The Beginning of Happily Ever After
by DJNS
Summary: Snippets of Lacey and Danny's life together as they journey from engaged couple, to marriage and into parenthood. This story takes place in the time period between the last chapter of Once I Knew You and the Epilogue. Mostly fluffy goodness.
1. Morning After Sickness

**Morning After Sickness**

Lacey was awakened by Danny's gentle nuzzles against her throat long before he whispered, "Good morning. Rise and shine, sleepyhead."

She cracked open a single eye and noted the murky interior of his bedroom. She could barely detect any hint of the sunlight filtering in through his white, vinyl blinds. One glance at the digital clock on his nightstand revealed the reason that was the case. The bright, digital numbers read 5:23, _as in a.m._ She balked inwardly at the realization and upon assimilating that it was much too early to be awake, Lacey closed her eyes again and responded to Danny's cheerful greeting with a disgruntled scowl.

"Go back to sleep, Danny."

"Can't. I'm too excited to sleep."

"Oh yeah? Excited about what?" she croaked without opening her eyes, "Because the only good reason you could possibly have for waking me up at this hour would be to tell me place is on fire. And I don't smell smoke, so I'm going back to sleep."

Far from deterred by her surly tone, Danny chuckled and trailed a warm path of kisses across her collarbone. Lulled by his caresses, Lacey arched her neck to provide him with more access as he settled against her body. His arousal was prominent between them when he whispered into her skin, "Does it count if _I'm_ on fire?"

Under different circumstances, Lacey might have responded to his cheesy come on and shifted the covers to make room for him underneath but at that particular moment, she was gradually becoming aware of the damp ends of Danny's hair as they trailed across her flesh and the clean, fragrant scent of his dewy skin, attesting to his recent shower. He had obviously been up for some time now, despite the ungodly hour, and was clearly refreshed. Lacey, on the other hand, was only half awake with puffy, sleep crusted eyes, tangled hair and morning breath. She couldn't quite ignore the disparity between them. Consequently, before Danny could take his exploration any further, she scooted from beneath him and flipped the blankets over her head.

"Nope. Nuh-uh. You can't seduce me right now," she told him, "I'm not sexy. Come back after I've showered and gargled and preferably when there's sunlight."

She heard his answering laugh rumbled against her ear through the covers. "Oh, you're _way_ sexy this way. Trust me. You're all warm and soft and you smell like sex."

Lacey grimaced at the description. "In other words, you're saying I stink," she paraphrased bluntly, batting away his hands when he tried to feel her up under the covers. "I'm serious, Danny! Get away from me! For God's sake, I haven't even brushed my teeth yet!"

He reared back onto his knees to straddle her then and regarded his grumpy bride-to-be with an expression full of impatient expectation. "Well, get to it then, woman. I've got more than six months of abstinence to make up for here."

She peeked at him from beneath the comforter with narrowed eyes, unsurprised to discover Danny grinning down at her with an almost maniacally happy expression. "Why are you so freaking chipper at 5:30 in the morning?" she groused, "It's really annoying."

"Can't a guy wake up smiling?"

"No. _Especially_ because it's you."

"I'm actually a very cheerful person." Lacey snorted at that claim. Danny ignored her skepticism and added smoothly, "Besides, today is our last day together."

Lacey buried her head anew. "And that's what's making you so happy right now? Ugh. You're such an ass. I hate you."

"No, that's not what's making me so happy," he protested with an amused smile, cuddling her through the blankets, "Seeing you in my bed, even if you are being surly as hell, makes me happy. I was just thinking that this weekend went by really fast."

Soured even further by that unhappy reminder, Lacey retorted, "Did you really wake me up at the butt crack of dawn to remind me of _that_?"

"Actually, I woke you up at the butt crack of dawn because I've been hard for the last two hours," he clarified boldly, adding without a beat as Lacey was left sputtering over his audacity, " _and_ because we only have a limited amount of time together before you have to go back to Green Grove this afternoon. I don't want to waste the time we have left sleeping when we could be putting my bed to much better use." He whipped the covers away from her body then and hooked his hands around her legs with the obvious intention of dragging her closer and climbing between them.

Still resisting his attempts at seduction, Lacey covered her face with a pillow though she was having a harder time keeping her smile at bay. "Maybe you should have thought of that before you kept me up half the night."

Danny bit back a laugh at the pointed reminder that he had spent most of the previous evening tracing every inch of her body with his mouth and hands. "I don't remember hearing you complain about it. Seemed to me like you couldn't get enough of me."

She lifted the pillow to shoot him an ironic look. "Wow, this a new mood for you. What happened to sullen, 'the sky is falling, woe is me' Danny?"

"He's on permanent hiatus. What can I say?" he whispered with a cocky smile as he settled back down against her, "You've inspired me, Porter. I feel like I could do anything."

Just as she opened her mouth to laughingly inform him that he was full of crap, Lacey was suddenly overwhelmed with a bout of nausea so powerful it felt like she was being slammed by a tsunami when it came. As she felt the hot bile rise in her throat, she clamped her hand over her mouth and swiftly scooted from underneath Danny with a mortified squeak. He barely had a minute to determine what was happening before she was darting from the room in a mad dash for the bathroom. Half a second later, he heart the unmistakable and gruesome sounds of violent retching. By the time he arrived in the bathroom to assist her, Lacey had emptied most of the contents left in her stomach and was dry heaving pitifully over the toilet.

Danny draped a nearby towel over her naked back and stooped down beside her to tenderly sweep her hair back from her face. "What can I do for you?"

"A mercy kill would be nice," Lacey managed in breathless hiccups in between the constant, rolling pitches of her stomach.

His lips twitched at her answer. "Besides that."

"Gingerale, please," she managed after a few more episodes of dry heaving, "And Saltine crackers if you have them."

In less than two minutes Danny had located the items she'd requested, though he had to settle on Sprite instead of gingerale, and returned to the bathroom. He found Lacey slumped weakly against the face of the bathtub, looking utterly spent. While most of her nausea had passed she seemed to lack the strength to lift her hand to take the soda and crackers he had brought so Danny settled down beside her and held the soda can to her lips so she could sip, alternating that with feeding her small bites of cracker.

Although she was grateful for his solicitous care, Lacey had a difficult time meeting Danny's eyes as she nibbled. Minutes before, she had been too sick to give much heed to the fact he was witnessing her vulnerable state. Now, however, she was beginning to feel the first stirrings of humiliation and embarrassment as she fully contemplated the picture she must have presented.

"I'll bet you don't think I'm quite so sexy now," she quipped self-deprecatingly, "Nothing like puking up your guts while completely naked. And all before sunrise. Fabulous." She favored him with a chagrined glance. "Sorry if I grossed you out."

"You didn't gross me out and I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. It's my fault you're in this situation in the first place."

Lacey favored him with a wan but affectionate smile. "Yeah, it kinda is, isn't it? Damn you and your determined swimmers, Desai!"

Despite her teasing, however, Danny couldn't bring himself to laugh, not after what he had just seen. It was one thing to know she was sick but quite another to witness it firsthand. "Is it like this for you every morning?" he fretted softly. While he recognized she had been battling bouts of nausea for some time now, he hadn't imagined they were quite that bad, particularly not when she first awakened. Danny couldn't help but think about all the mornings she had woken up in a similar state but had suffered through the misery alone.

"Lately? Yeah, it has been." She shrugged in consideration. "I guess that's why they call it 'morning sickness,' which is kind of a mislabel because it actually happens _all freaking day!_ "

"When will it stop?"

"According to Google, it's supposed to let up in the second trimester but I'm almost there and it only seems to be getting worse for me."

"Maybe that's not normal. Maybe you should see someone." His voice trembled with concern as he added, "Maybe something's wrong with the baby."

"Nothing is wrong," Lacey reassured Danny before he could descend into full-blown panic, "I'm just one of those unlucky women who will likely suffer with morning sickness for their entire pregnancy. Big whoop."

"I still think you should see a doctor," Danny insisted.

She reached up to tweak his nose playfully. "Aww, look at you. You already have this dutiful husband thing down cold, don't you?" He pressed a loving kiss to her temple, his forehead still creased with worry despite her levity. Lacey made yet another attempt to reassure him. "It's okay, Danny. I'll be fine after I swish my mouth with a little water."

After he rose to fill one of the disposable paper cups he kept near the bathroom sink (another brilliant Lacey Porter idea) with tap water, Danny asked somewhat glumly, "I don't guess you're in the mood for breakfast after all of this, huh? I was going to do special requests, whatever you wanted."

Lacey's eyes widened with interest. "Are you kidding? I'm starving! I could eat my own arm right now! If you're taking requests then I want blueberry pancakes with lots of whipped cream."

Danny blinked at her incredulously. "But I just watched you throw up all your insides," he sputtered in protest.

"Sometimes it's worse if I don't eat," Lacey told him, "Blueberry pancakes will definitely help."

"Ahh...I didn't know that. I keep forgetting that you've known about this for a week already," he murmured to himself, "I'm still getting used to it."

While Danny whipped together a simple breakfast of blueberry pancakes and fresh fruit, Lacey brushed her teeth, showered and dressed for the day. An hour later, they were seated together at the small counter that served as his dining room table and enjoying a quiet breakfast together. Danny was still rather unconvinced that Lacey could tolerate food after what he had witnessed in the bathroom but she seemed to display no ill effects from earlier as she wolfed down her pancakes. He watch her in wary fascination, half expecting her to blow like Mt. Vesuvius at any given moment. After she was done, she patted her full belly in contented satisfaction.

"That was really good. All those hours you spend watching the Food Network are really starting to pay off."

"Based on what I just saw, I obviously need the practice," Danny smirked, "I'm surprised you didn't lick the plate clean too."

"Don't tease me, Desai," she warned him with a frown of mock affront, "I need the nutrients. I'm growing a human being, remember? That's hard work." Danny's smile faltered a bit at the reminder and Lacey noted the shift in his expression with a measure of apprehension. "Hey...you're not mad at me for not telling you about the baby sooner, are you?"

"No. I get why you didn't say anything right away," he sighed, "But, you've already looked up some stuff and started to prepare yourself for what to expect. I still don't know what the hell I'm doing."

"Neither do I. Until last night, I wasn't even sure I was going to have this baby."

"But we _are_ going to have this baby," Danny determined softly, "So I guess we need to discuss our game plan for that."

Lacey pushed her empty plate away with a sullen expression, suddenly filled with dread for what he might say next. "I thought we already _did_ discuss it," she said, "Unless this is your way of saying you've changed your mind about everything."

An instant later she felt Danny reach over to cradle her face. When he brushed her lips gently with his own, Lacey finally summoned the courage to look at him. He regarded her intently, his eyes filled with naked adoration for her. "Nothing has changed for me," Danny told her firmly, "I _still_ want to marry you, Lace. I _still_ want us to be a family. We just need to figure out how we're going to tell your mom."

"And _your_ grandparents," she added solemnly.

"They don't have to know about the baby right away," he considered, "We'll just tell them that we're getting married and let the rest come out later."

In an instant, Lacey's mood shifted mercurially from brooding to buoyant with his words. She had a difficult time hold her happy grin at bay after he was finished speaking. Regarding him with a besotted expression, she entreated softly, "Say that again."

"Say what again?" Danny asked with a puzzled frown, "'Let the rest come out later?'"

She gave his shoulder a light shove. "No! Say the other thing."

As what she was asking for in particular finally dawned on him, Danny leaned in closer to her and nuzzled a kiss across her lips, his own smile began to manifest. "Oh, you mean the part about us getting married?"

Her dimples deepened. "Yeah. That's the part."

Danny kissed her long and slow and deep before sighing into her mouth, "I can't wait to make you my wife, Lacey Porter."

"It only took you 3,330 years to do it."

He rolled his eyes in laughing consternation at the reply. "Oh, you _had_ to bring that up."

"Yep. I _had_ to bring it up. Gonna remind you for the rest of our lives, babe."

At that point, he had to kiss her again. She was too adorable to resist. Somehow, before the kiss was finished, she ended up slipping from her barstool and straddling his lap. "When do you want to do it?" Danny asked her breathlessly when they came up for air again a few seconds later.

"Right now in the middle of the living room is fine," Lacey reminded, already moving from his lap with the intention of tugging him in the general direction of the futon.

Danny threw back his head with a hearty laugh. "I don't mean _that_. At least, not right now. I meant when do you want _to get married_?"

"Oh." Lacey paused to consider the question for a long moment before she countered, "Well, when do you want to do it?"

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

"Lacey!"

"Danny!"

He growled at her but his exasperation only made her giggle. "I'm being very serious here," he maintained sternly despite his threatening smile, "We've never talked about what we want to do. Do you want a big wedding or would you rather go down to city hall and elope? Do you want to do it soon or do you want to wait until after the baby is born? I need to know what you're thinking."

"That I want to be with you," she answered quietly, "That's the only thing that matters to me."

"That's a good answer. _Now_..." he said, grinning as he rose to his feet with Lacey straddling his waist, " _Now_ , I'm going to do you on the futon." It wasn't very long before Lacey's yelping giggles soon became soft moans of pleasure after he carried her into the living room and spent the next hour showing her how much _she_ mattered to _him_.

Afterwards, they snuggled against each other and chatted idly about nothing and everything, lazily flipping through the television channels in the hope of finding something interesting to watch besides the news. For the moment, they were content to simply be together, existing in a world where only the two of them existed. Eventually, however, reality intruded and Lacey and Danny became acutely aware that their time together was rapidly dwindling. With great reluctance, they roused themselves from the futon and showered together and made love beneath the spray for the second time that morning. Once they were clean and dressed, they returned to the kitchen to clear away the remains of their breakfast.

As they cleaned the kitchen together, Danny couldn't stop glancing at the clock as he mentally calculated the hours he and Lacey had left. For the past ten weeks or so, Lacey would traditionally leave around noon so that she could arrive in Green Grove at a decent hour and, up until that very moment, Danny had found the arrangement acceptable. Now, however, it seemed unbearable. Not only had they not hammered out any details about their wedding, the baby or even their living arrangements, there was also the more pertinent fact that he simply didn't want to say goodbye to her.

"Maybe you should stay until tomorrow," he considered aloud after he'd finished loading the dishwasher, "We still have so much to talk about and...and I'm not ready for you to leave yet."

Lacey finished folding her drying towel and draped it over the oven door handle. "I'm not ready to leave either," she sighed glumly, "I don't get it. We've been doing this every weekend for nearly three months. I never like saying goodbye to you but...why is this time so hard?"

"I think it's because we've already spent so much time apart," Danny said as he took her into his arms, "and we don't want to do it anymore. So, the only solution I can think of is that you stay."

She tipped a doleful glance up at him. "Unfortunately, you know I can't. I have an eight o'clock Pharmacology class in the morning and you have to be at work after I leave. This was our arrangement, remember?"

"Yeah, I know but that was _before_."

"Before what?"

"Before I was reminded of how good it feels to fall asleep next to you or to wake up with you the next morning. Today was _everything_ to me, Lace. Please don't go home yet."

She slipped from his hold with a dejected sigh with a torn expression. It was clear that she didn't want to refuse him but she also couldn't give into his request either and Danny knew exactly why that was the case. Part of her was a little exasperated with him for making her feel so conflicted about it in the first place. "Danny, you know I can't make a habit of cutting class."

"I'm not asking you to make a habit of it. I'm asking you to make an exception to the rule."

"Yeah, that's what you say for now," she argued, "But this is how it starts. I love you and I want to stay here with you but I can't afford to let _anything_ interfere with school. Not when I busted my ass to get into this program. It's too important for me to blow off."

His expression became shuttered following her reply. "Fine. Whatever."

"God, Danny, don't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad," he retorted in between loudly putting away his stainless steel cookware, "I'm cleaning."

"If you're not mad then why are you slamming pots around?" she demanded crossly. He straightened to regard her with a churlish expression. "You know you're not being fair! Everything can't suddenly change just because we're sleeping together again!"

"I'm not saying it has to!"

"You're still pouting about it."

"I'm not pouting."

Lacey closed the distance between them and reached up to lightly trace his protruding lower lip. "Oh yeah? This looks suspiciously like a pout, Danny."

The feathered caress did much to diffuse Danny's aggravation and tension. "Well, maybe I am pouting a little," he acknowledged with a mildly exasperated eye roll, "I just hate that it has to be this way between us with you living in one state and me living in another. It sucks."

"Yes, it does suck," she agreed after pressing a mollifying kiss to his lips, "But it's temporary, right? Just temporary."

The stirrings of a smile began to ghost the corners of his mouth. "Because we're getting married."

"Yeah. We're getting married," she laughed in affirmation.

"You're finally going to be my wife. Mrs. Daniel Aran Desai. Lacey Nicole Desai. I like how that sounds."

Lacey tested the name on her tongue several times, stumbling a bit in the beginning because it sounded so foreign on her tongue. "It's not quite as smooth as Lacey Nicole Porter. That's going to take some getting used to. Lacey Desai. It almost sounds like a lingerie brand. It doesn't even feel like I'm talking about myself."

"Maybe I should change _my_ name to Danny Porter instead," Danny half joked, "I don't know if you're ready for the stigma that comes with having the Desai name."

"It's _your_ name, Danny," Lacey countered firmly, "There's no stigma attached to that and I would be honored to have it."

"Right. Tell that to the tabloids."

"I'm serious. You shouldn't be ashamed of who you are. You aren't your father."

He straightened and favored her with an expression full of challenge. "Are you sure about that? Because sometimes, I'm not. Sometimes, I'm afraid of what might live inside of me, Lacey."

She met his eyes with unwavering conviction. "I'm not afraid. You're a good person and you're good for me. Don't ever let yourself doubt that."

"I hope to God you're right," he sighed finally, bringing his hands low to rest at the base of her abdomen, "For our kid's sake, if nothing else. I don't want him or her to have the kind of childhood that I had. I want to be a better father to this baby than my father was to me."

"Speaking of your father..." Lacey hedged in messy segue, "Have you spoken to him since...well, you know...since...?"

"You mean since he got away with being an accomplice in my mother's murder?" he finished for her bluntly, "No. Not so much."

"Do you _want_ to talk to him?" she asked carefully.

"No. He can rot in hell for all I care!"

"You're not even the slightest bit interested in hearing his side of things?" she pressed further, "I'm not saying that you have to forgive him or anything, just that maybe you give him the opportunity to explain himself. The man fell in love with his sister and carried on a secret affair with her for years! Either he really is _that_ depraved or his childhood was royally screwed up."

"I think he's that depraved, just like Tara was," Danny replied tautly, "I don't need to hear his 'side' of things. You can't explain away murder and incest, Lacey."

"But _he_ didn't murder your mother. Tara did. And, he saved your life that night in the cabin," she considered softly, "But you haven't said a single word about how any of that makes you feel and that concerns me."

She knew that she was probably pushing her luck by pursuing the topic at all, knowing full well how touchy Danny could be when it came to his father. Still, Lacey held her ground and did so anyway if for no other reason than her righteous certainty that Danny needed to air out his emotions, no matter how complicated and volatile they might be. Unfortunately, it was still his first inclination to repress his feelings rather than deal with them head on and, in Lacey's estimation that was no way to live.

"Talk to me," she urged when he remained silent, "Tell me what's going on in your head right now."

He swept her with an aggravated glower. "I don't even know why we're having this conversation at all, Lacey. Vikram Desai is not in our lives and he never will be again."

"But he's still your dad, Danny. You spent your entire life seeking his approval and now you act as if he doesn't matter to you at all."

"He doesn't."

However, there was a flash of pain and uncertainty in the depths of his dark eyes that made Lacey doubt his denial. "I don't believe you."

"He stood by and allowed his sister to get away with murder for seventeen years!" Danny argued vehemently, "He doesn't get a pass for that just because he grew a conscience at the last possible second and wouldn't let Tara shoot me! That doesn't erase the fact that he allowed her to hold me at gunpoint in the first place!"

"He killed her to protect you, Danny," Lacey reminded him quietly, "Maybe that's not what he intended but that's what happened. Are you really going to tell me that doesn't resonate with you, even a little bit?"

Danny crossed his arms in a stubbornly defensive pose, unwilling to entertain her speculation for even a split second. "No. Are we done talking about this now?"

"All I'm saying is that I think you need closure. How are you ever supposed to heal if you won't acknowledge your demons?"

His expression gradually softened as he recognized that she was speaking out of love for him and nothing else. "Listen, I appreciate the fact you're so concerned about me," he told her, "I really do. But my father is not a subject I want to discuss, Lacey. Not ever. Not even with you."

"Okay."

"Okay." Hoping to take the sting out of what she most likely viewed as him shutting her out and restore the good humor that had existed between them only moments earlier, Danny said, "We should probably come up with a plan for what we're going to tell your mom when I come next weekend."

Lacey tapped her chin in thoughtful consideration. "I thought maybe we could take her out for a nice dinner, get her all liquored up and then spring it on her that we're getting married. That sounds like a great plan," she finished up just as Danny's amused laughter rang out.

"I was thinking something a little more traditional," he said after his burst of mirth had passed.

"Traditional? Like what?"

"Like maybe I could ask your mother for permission to marry you."

She guffawed at the suggestion. "Yeah, right."

"I'm being serious. Technically, I should really ask your father's permission but since your relationship with him is somewhat shaky-,"

"-Try nonexistent and filled with hostility-,"

"-your mom is the next best option."

Lacey peered at him in quizzical wonder. "You seriously want to ask my mother for permission to marry me?"

"It's the respectful thing to do," Danny considered, "Plus, it might lessen her desire to kill me when she finds out about the baby."

"Ahh, I see now. This is self-preservation at its best."

Danny ducked his head sheepishly at the assumption but didn't deny it. "So what do you think?"

"I like the idea," Lacey admitted after a beat of silence, "It's romantic in an old world kind of way. She'll get a kick out of it for sure. Plus, I don't think my mom is going to be nearly as upset as we think she's going to be. Maybe she'll even be happy about the baby. God knows my family could use some good news after everything that's happened in the last year."

Her attempt as hopeful optimism didn't mislead Danny in the slightest. "You're grasping at straws right now, aren't you?"

Lacey slumped forward in defeat. "Yeah, I am. Is it that obvious?"

"Kind of. I think we should just accept the fact that your mom is likely going to be furious when we tell her but, she's going to get over it, Lacey. Eventually."

"Yeah, maybe..."

"And, if she doesn't, we'll deal with it."

"What if she won't forgive me?" Lacey fretted miserably, "I've always been the good, obedient daughter. She has all these expectations for me and I know she'll be disappointed when we tell her. What if she kicks me out?"

"She's not going to kick you out. But, even if she did, we already decided we were going to get an apartment together anyway," Danny reasoned, "In fact, we can start looking for a place next weekend."

"That's another thing. It's going to cost you so much money to break your lease, Danny," Lacey groaned in consternation, "You just got this place. I know how much you love it."

"I love you more."

They paused to exchange brief, enamored smiles before Lacey asked, "What about your job? You're going to have to quit. You're changing your entire life around for me."

"I actually think I might have the job part covered," he told her, "We have a couple of sister stores about thirty miles outside of Green Grove. I can talk to my manager and see if it's possible for me to get transferred to one of those. It would be a pretty hefty commute but I could keep my job."

"That's sounds great and everything but, regardless of whether you can keep your job or not, 9 bucks an hour isn't going to go very far to maintain the expenses for a two bedroom apartment, Danny," Lacey argued, "Not to mention how much it's going to cost us when the baby is born." The more she contemplated their future, the more anxious she became. Lacey nibbled pensively at her lower lip. "Maybe I should look for work too."

Danny was shaking his head in adamant disagreement long before she had even finished voicing the consideration. "No. Absolutely not! I don't want you to have to do that," he said, "First of all, you're pregnant. The last thing you need is to be busting your ass at a minimum wage job. Second of all, you need to focus on school. Let me worry about our finances."

"That's very sweet but also vaguely caveman like of you, Desai," Lacey replied in a thoughtful tone, "While I appreciate your determination to take care of me, I am not some damsel in distress in need of rescue or some delicate, wilting flower! I can pull my own weight!"

"I know that and I'm not implying otherwise. But you said yourself how important it is for you to concentrate on school. I want to help you to do that, Lacey. That's all."

"And what happens when the money runs out?" she challenged, "Because you have to know your savings aren't going to last forever!"

"I already told you last night. If it comes down to it, I'll sue Vikram for my inheritance if I have to. No matter what, I'll make sure that you and the baby have what you need."

"I'm not worried about me and the baby. I'm worried about _you_. You're the one making all of the sacrifices and uprooting your life right now. What do you get out of this?"

"That's simple," he sighed, pulling her into the circle of his arms for a sweet, searching kiss, "I get to be with you."


	2. Mama Always Knows

**Mama Always Knows**

Danny had only just raised his fist to knock when Lacey flung open the door and yanked him into the foyer by the lapels of his jacket. Before he could sputter a protest over her lack of proper greeting she had sealed her mouth to his in a hungry kiss. He needed no further invitation than that before he was all in. Without ever breaking contact with her mouth, Danny clumsily kicked the door shut behind him while at the same time ripping himself free from his jacket and dropping it in their wake. They stumbled together in a frenetic tangle of limbs towards the living room, kissing greedily as they did so.

"Where's your mom?" Danny managed to get out in between frantic kisses and Lacey's attempts to wrangle his t-shirt over his head. "She's gone, right?"

Lacey whipped off his belt and carelessly tossed it to the other side of the living room. "Store. Last minute shopping trip." She attacked the button at his waistband of his army green trousers with nimble fingers and, once loosened, shoved down them down his hips along with his boxers, causing his erection to spring free. With his pants forming a loose puddle around his ankles, Danny cupped Lacey's backside with one hand and circled his hips against her in growing need. She reached down between them to stroke his length briefly, coaxing sticky beads of moisture from his swollen tip before finally releasing him so that she could recline onto the sofa.

Danny mewled with the loss of contact but his disappointment soon became groans of pleasure when Lacey caught hold of his hand and eagerly tugged him down between her open thighs. "We have an hour tops," she panted eagerly, wrapping her long, smooth limbs around Danny's naked waist, "Let's make the best of it."

She sought out his lips for another breathless kiss as he pushed up her shirt and bra so that he could palm and kiss and finally suck the turgid tips of her breasts. Lacey writhed beneath him and groaned his name, tangling her fingers waving tendrils of his hair as he expertly flicked and rolled his tongue against her skin. They were grinding their hips against each other in frenetic tandem by the time he bunched her short skirt up around her waist and slipped his hand lower to stroke her soft, slick entrance.

"No panties?" he groaned in approval when his fingers found unencumbered wetness, "Man, I love you."

"I thought you'd appreciate it." She moaned his name aloud as he beat a fluttering caress across her sensitive, swollen flesh. He circled the pads of his fingers against her throbbing clit, provoking tiny cries of ecstasy from Lacey that shivered from her groin and radiated throughout the entirety of both her lower limbs. She gripped his forearms and rode his hand in eager circles of anticipation. "Aren't...aren't you glad I'm so...so forward thinking?" she gasped.

"God, yes!" He sank one finger deep inside of her, hissing aloud when she conformed around his digit like a velvety band. And then he added another, stroking her until his fingers slid in and out of her with slippery ease before finally joining his body to hers in one, fluid thrust. Danny murmured his approval into the warm crook of her throat.

A full week of dirty text messages, late night phone sex and enforced abstinence had destroyed any possibility of a prolonged session of lovemaking. After five days without seeing each other, Danny and Lacey had worked themselves up into a frenzy of desire so uncontainable that their need for one another had practically become a biological imperative. In that moment, nothing at all mattered to them beyond the pleasure they were giving and seeking. The couch's sturdy frame squeaked faintly with the force of their coupling, mingling with their mutual grunts and moans of satisfaction. Something on the end table next to them was jostled before finally being knocked askew and rolling to the floor with a muted thunk. The sound was followed by several more like it. Neither of them cared.

Their mouths met in a panting kiss, their bodies clammy with perspiration. When Danny could feel his release begin to build, he stroked inside Lacey with more focused thrusts and angled his hips so that he hit the premise spot he knew gave her the most pleasure. He felt the hot, incredibly wet rush of her impending orgasm long before she cried out. Lacey arched into him with a keening moan, her nails biting into the firm flesh of his buttocks as she went over the edge. The pulsing contractions of her creamy vaginal walls was all that was needed to provoke Danny's own climax. He rode out the sensation with a low, gratified hiss, slumping against her only when the last currents of pleasure finally died out.

Only after their lust spent did it dawn on them both that they had never greeted one another with a proper hello. In fact, beyond discerning that they were alone and free to go at it like bunnies, Danny and Lacey hadn't had much conversation at all. In belated recognition of that fact, Danny lifted his head to rectify that fact and regarded Lacey with a sheepish smile.

"Hey. How's it going?"

Lacey laughed softly as the absurdity of the moment hit her full force. She was still mostly dressed while Danny had his t-shirt still hooked around his neck and his trousers pooled around a single ankle, hanging off of his leg like a dilapidated flag. "It's good. And you?"

"Balls deep in my woman," he replied with a wry smile, "Doesn't get any better than that." Lacey was still laughing over his response when he reluctantly withdrew from her body.

When Danny sat up to pull on his t-shirt and pull up his trousers, Lacey sat upright as well to readjust her own clothing. That slight movement caused an uncomfortable trickle of liquid between her legs. She squeaked at the sensation and reflexively clamped them shut to avoid making a mess on her mother's sofa.

"I should probably go clean up now," she murmured, having a difficult time meeting his eyes right then, "I'm leaking."

Danny took a step back as she scooted past him to dart towards the exit. "Oh...yeah, okay. Go ahead. I should come with you to get cleaned up too."

She gestured for him to follow her upstairs. "Well, come on then."

They crowded together in the small bathroom she had once shared with her late sister and stripped from the waist down to wash up at the sink, trading ironic, laughing smiles with one another as they did. At first they were fairly focused on cleaning up in between banter with one another but all too soon they became distracted with watching each other. Finally giving up the pretense altogether, Danny stepped behind Lacey and plucked her washcloth from her fingers so that he could take it upon himself to wash between her legs. She parted her thighs to accommodate him and, together, they watched his sensual ministrations in the bathroom mirror.

Lacey felt his whisper stir against her ear. "How does that feel?"

Her throat felt suddenly dry when she answered, "G...Good."

"Am I missing anything?"

She managed a rough swallow and arched into his hand as she said, "N...No...you're just...where I want you."

Danny then edged his free hand beneath the hem of her shirt to cup and knead her breast while he caressed her throbbing center with the other. Tossing aside the washcloth completely, he skimmed his fingers across her smooth, swollen folds before bringing his hand higher to briefly coast his palm over the small swell of her lower abdomen.

"You're starting to show," he noted with a curious mixture of wonder and want. Lacey, however, grimaced at the observation, a fact that failed to escape Danny's attention even when her eyes sank closed and her expression softened with pleasure when he took his exploration lower once again. "Why the face?" he asked as he watched flickers of pleasure flash across her face in the mirror. He brushed a soft kiss across her shoulder. "You're fucking beautiful like this, Lacey."

Lacey grunted a skeptical laugh. "Is that so? Does me getting fat turn you on?"

"You're growing my kid inside of you," he countered gruffly, " _That_ turns me on."

Her lashes fluttered up and she studied his intense expression reflected back at her. "Is that how you really feel?"

He cupped her breasts with both hands, spurred on to flick and pluck at her turgid nipples with her approving moan. "Why do you think I can't keep my hands off of you?"

She half laughed, half whimpered at his reasoning, thoroughly distracted by his touch. "Since when have you ever been able to keep your hands to yourself, Danny?"

Danny met her eyes in a dark, electric stare. "This is different," he uttered gruffly, "I don't know what it is but it's different. Being with you now is different. You're the most amazing person in the world to me right now, Lacey."

Lacey didn't bother to refute his argument or even request qualification for his response because she understood _exactly_ what he meant. It was different between them. There was an intimacy that existed between them now that went far deeper than sexual attraction or even romantic love. They had created a life together, a small person that was a generous and unique mixture of them both. It was difficult to imagine that something so profound, so miraculous wouldn't change them somehow.

She turned in his arms then and searched out his lips in a nibbling kiss. "I don't think I've ever loved you more than I do right at this very minute," she whispered thickly.

"I love _you_. Always. Forever. I love you both." He kissed her deeply, desperately, framing her hips in his hands to bring her closer against him. Danny emitted a small sound of gratification as his body began to stir with renewed desire for her. "I want you again," he whispered, preparing to lift her up onto the flat surface sink counter and sheathe himself inside her once more. That intention, unfortunately, was abruptly shattered by the reverberating sound of the front door as it opened and closed downstairs.

Both Danny and Lacey froze in place, their breaths suspended in their lungs. A moment later the silence was split by the sound of Judy Porter calling out for her oldest daughter. That was all Lacey needed to hear to douse her raging lust and reanimate her into frantic action.

With a muttered expletive, she hopped down from the sink and, in a blur of movement, bent hastily to scoop up her discarded clothing with the clear intent of making a mad dash for her bedroom. Her last words to Danny before she went racing from the bathroom, as he stood there aroused and stunned, were delivered with hissed impatience. "For God's sake, it's my _mother_ , Danny! Put your pants back on!"

Danny couldn't immediately react. While he recognized the urgency of the situation and how dangerously close he was to having Judy Porter walk in on him half naked and fully erect, his body was still thumping with thwarted desire. That fact caused him to exist in a temporary stupor as the blood that had been shunting directly to his groin only minutes earlier finally began to return to his brain. Once he managed to calm himself down and gain some modicum of self control, Danny made himself presentable and went downstairs where Lacey was already waiting with her mother.

It didn't escape Danny's notice that Lacey was wearing a pair of sweatpants now and that she was very likely wearing underwear as well. He tried to cover his disappointment over that fact as he stepped fully into the living room. Immediately, Judy Porter's keen gaze landed on him like a swooping bird of prey. The instant he was in her sights, Danny gulped audibly.

"You see, Mom?" Lacey trilled somewhat nervously as he crossed the threshold, "I told you he was in the bathroom!" She couldn't have been more obvious in her denial than if she had written in bold, black letters, "we just had sex," across her forehead.

In contrast, Danny tried to maintain a neutral facade as he stepped forward to greet Judy Porter with a cordial nod. He hoped fervently his expression didn't betray the fact that he had just been ridding himself of a hard on in her upstairs bathroom just minutes before. "Hello, Mrs. Porter. It's good to see you again." Unfortunately, his collected demeanor lasted only as it took him to realize that his belt was dangling from Judy Porter's fingertips. Danny choked out an embarrassed cough.

"Does this belong to you?" Judy asked dryly.

"Um...yes, ma'am." Danny scrambled forward to retrieve the article and hastily put it back into place, scrupulously avoiding Judy's knowing stare as he did so.

"Do you make a habit of just dropping your clothing wherever you feel like it, Danny?"

He chanced a mortified glance in her direction. "Excuse me?"

"Your jacket," Judy clarified, nodding towards the chair where she had lain the aforementioned item, "I found it lying in the middle of the foyer when I came home."

"Sorry about that, Mrs. Porter," Danny mumbled contritely.

Judy merely grunted in response, which caused Lacey to burst out rather defensively, "We weren't doing anything, Mom!"

That denial prompted little more than an exasperated eye roll from Judy. "Don't insult my intelligence, Lacey," she scoffed, "I know exactly what you and Danny are doing together when you're visiting him for the weekend. I never for a second bought that you were 'hanging out as friends.' Just as long as you're using protection I have nothing to say about it..."

Judy might have noticed the supremely uneasy glance that passed between the two if she wasn't momentarily distracted by the sight of one of her prized, African statuettes lying on the carpet only a few feet from the sofa. "Lacey Nicole Porter!" she admonished sharply as she stooped to retrieve the treasure, "How many times have I told you to be careful around my art!" She carefully placed the statue back in its rightful place on the end table next to the sofa. "These are pieces of your history."

"Mom, you got that at a flea market for 39.99," Lacey reminded her with a deadpan expression.

"It was still made it Africa," Judy snapped, "So it counts!" Her tirade was halted from going any further when she discovered a few more pieces that had fallen to the floor. "Damn it, Lacey," she muttered, "What the hell were you two doing in here?"

Lacey and Danny darted a glance at each other before answering almost simultaneously, "Nothing."

"Right. I suppose that's why Danny had to take off his belt."

Danny made a whimpering sound under his breath while Lacey immediately hopped on a righteous defensive. "We were just wrestling," she lied without so much as blinking, "Why do you always have to be so suspicious?" Danny ducked his head with a deepening blush, making it abundantly clear to Judy that she had every right to be suspicious.

Judy expelled yet another noncommittal grunt. "Whatever you did, it had better not have happened on my sofa," she muttered.

At that point, when it looked like Danny might pass out from actual horror, Lacey stepped in to change the subject as best she could. "Can we please drop it?" she pleaded in a weary tone, "Danny and I promise to be more careful in the future."

"Fine," Judy acquiesced finally, "Why don't you grab Danny's jacket and put it away? Danny, have a seat. I'll make us a pot of coffee so we can catch up."

Although the last thing Lacey wanted was to sit through the painful grilling session she knew was coming she recognized that doing so was a necessary evil. She and Danny had yet to tell her mother about their new engagement or the fact they planned to move in together. Lacey knew her mother well enough to know that was going to require some finesse on both their parts. They couldn't simply blurt out their intentions. They had to cajole her mother into accepting their news.

She was mentally preparing her speech when she swept up Danny's jacket from the chair. Her plans to hang it on the coat rack in the foyer were halted, however, when something heavy unexpectedly fell from his pocket and bounced to the floor. Lacey frowned. "What was that?"

"I'll get it!" Danny scuttled forward to sweep up the fallen item but not quickly enough to prevent Lacey and Judy from discovering what it was: a black, velvet ring box.

Lacey bent down to pluck the box from the carpet with a stunned gasp and shaking fingers. She regarded Danny with a luminous expression as she cradled the box in her hand. "You got me a ring?"

"That was always the point, right?"

She sniffled as the magnitude of what he had done hit her all at once. "Yeah, I know you said it, but... You actually got me a ring," she hiccupped with a teary smile, "Can I look at it? Just one peek."

Danny slumped forward with a defeated sigh, a wry smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "This isn't actually how I was planning for this to go, Lacey," he mumbled, "I meant for it to be a surprise. I was going to take you out to dinner tonight, serenade you, get down on one knee, the whole she-bang." He glanced over at a heretofore speechless Judy. "And I was going to ask for your permission first, Mrs. Porter," he added softly.

"Then in that case, my answer is no," Judy answered without preamble, "You don't have my permission. You're too young."

Danny was so stunned by her refusal that he didn't have an immediate reply but Lacey was not at a loss for words at all. "Mom!" she protested stridently, "That's for _me_ to decide! Not you!"

"Don't take that tone with me, young lady! Danny obviously wanted to know how I felt about the situation or he wouldn't have planned on asking my permission in the first place," Judy argued, "And, in my opinion, you're both too young to be thinking about marriage."

"We love each other!"

"Lacey, you're only nineteen years old! Danny only just turned twenty. Danny has only lived on his own for three months! _You're_ still in school. You haven't even completed your first term in the nursing program. Neither of you are even legally old enough to drink! There is still plenty of time ahead to make this kind of commitment to each other!"

"I'm committed to him _now_ ," Lacey retorted stiffly, clutching the ring box tightly in her fist, "I want to marry him now."

"I don't doubt that you do and I'm not saying that you shouldn't. _Someday_...when you're both in a better position to give something meaningful to each other," Judy emphasized calmly, "Not now when you can barely take care of yourselves. No one is saying that you still can't be together. You can still date. You can still be exclusive. There's no need for you to rush. It's not like you're pregnant or anything."

She had intended for the last of her statement to be taken as a bit of ironic teasing, a way of dispelling the growing tension between her and Lacey but she quickly discerned that neither Lacey nor Danny were laughing. Judy was wholly unprepared for the stricken expressions that instantly graced both Danny and Lacey's faces. When they immediately dropped their eyes in the aftermath, Judy knew exactly the reason they had.

"I don't believe it. Oh my God, you are," she concluded in breathless disappointment, "You're pregnant."

Lacey knew she had the option to lie. But she also knew that Judy would be on her like a pit bull going for the throat if she did. "Yes," she confirmed in a strangled croak, "I'm pregnant."

Judy barely absorbed that shock before she asked the next question that sprang to her mind. "How far along are you? Do you know?"

"Three months."

Following that revelation, Judy sank down into the nearest chair in a relative daze. "Three months. My God, three months..." she muttered, more to herself than to Lacey and Danny, "It's close but that's not so far along that you can't-,"

"-We're not having an abortion," Danny interrupted, speaking for the first time since Judy initially refused to give her permission, "Lacey and I have already talked about this and we're going to keep the baby. We're going to raise it together."

"Is that so?" Judy challenged, "And how are you going to do that when you live in Connecticut and she lives here? Are you expecting her to move there and start all over again with her schooling?"

"No. I'm moving back to Green Grove as soon as possible."

"I see. Now it makes sense why you're both in such a ridiculous rush to get married," Judy said. She briefly dropped her face into her hands with an exhausted sigh. "Don't you think you're being rash?" she asked them, "I hardly think now is the time to further complicate an already complicated situation with marriage."

"Mom, Danny and I were going to get married regardless," Lacey told her after exchanging a nod of agreement with Danny, "The baby has just...sped things up our plans a little bit."

"A little bit?"

"We know what we have to do and we'll be fine."

"What about nursing school, Lacey? You've been working towards this one goal since you were seven years old! They told you at orientation that the program would require _all_ of your focus!"

"It's not like I'm going to be the only person in the program with a family, Mom!"

"It's different with a newborn baby. Not to mention the recovery time you'll need after you deliver."

"We'll work it out."

"Will you? Or will you take the path of least resistance?"

"Stop talking to me like I'm going to drop out of school or something! Danny and I have all of this covered! Nothing has to change."

" _Everything_ is going to change, baby. You're going to be a _mother_ , Lacey, and that is a lifelong commitment and it is not easy! Not to mention all the responsibilities that come with being a wife and raising a family! It won't just be about _you_ anymore and what you want! Your family will have to come first!"

"I know all of that!"

"Do you really?" Judy scoffed, "You don't pay any bills. You don't have any expenses. _I'm_ providing the money for your tuition and _I'm_ paying your car note. You don't even have a job, Lacey! Sweetheart, you're a wonderful girl but you still have the tendency to think the world revolves around you! You can't even support yourself, how are you supposed to raise a child? You're still a baby yourself!"

"I'm not a baby and I can handle it! I don't need you to pay for anything for me! I can take care of myself!"

"You're not listening to reason. I understand that you and Danny have always had a very intense relationship and I've tried to make my peace with that," Judy acknowledged calmly, "But this is way too fast. This isn't even who you are! I don't understand what's going on with you. You're not ready for any of this."

"Yes, _I am_."

"Are you sure this isn't because of Clara, because you're still grieving for her?" Judy asked softly, "Are you trying to distract yourself from missing your sister? Is that what this is?"

"NO! Why would you say something like that?" Lacey cried, "You know how I feel about Danny! You know I love him! I miss Clara every day but being with Danny, _marrying_ him has nothing to do with that!"

"All I know is that a year ago, you would have _never_ jeopardized your future by being careless enough to have unprotected sex," Judy posited, "You would have never considered getting married before you finished school! You wouldn't have allowed a romantic relationship to distract you! This reckless behavior was typical of your sister but not you, Lacey. Now it's almost like you're channeling Clara, like you're trying to live out the life that she didn't get to have."

"That's not what I'm doing!"

Judy regarded Lacey with a sad expression. "Are you sure? Honey, grief can sometimes manifest itself in strange ways."

"I can't believe you're being this way," Lacey mumbled tearfully.

Danny mostly followed their emotional exchange in pensive silence, feeling doubt begin to creep into his heart little by little the longer Judy Porter spoke. She was right when she said that Lacey wasn't the person she had been a year prior. That was true for many reasons, the most outstanding reason being her newly acquired knowledge of an extensive past life, but Danny couldn't deny that he and the drama that surrounded him had played a large part in changing Lacey too. What if those changes hadn't been for the better? It was clear to him that Judy Porter didn't think so and he couldn't help but be influenced by those feelings. Once again, Danny found himself second guessing whether or not he was truly the best thing for Lacey after all.

Unaware of his conflicted musings at that moment, Lacey glowered at her mother with a betrayed expression. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded in an embittered whisper, "Why can't you be happy for me? Why are you treating marriage and a baby like it's the end of the world?"

"Because you're nineteen years old!" Judy cried wrathfully, " _You are a child!_ You're not ready!"

"Well, it's happening whether you think I'm ready or not," Lacey uttered, "And whether _you're_ ready or not. Danny and I _are_ going to get married and if you can't accept that, well then..." She let the threat hang there, allowing Judy to draw her own conclusions as to what Lacey meant. Satisfied that she had made her point when Judy inhaled sharply, Lacey moved to stand closer to Danny and took hold of his hand. "We're going to go now. It seems like you need a little time to come to terms with this."

As they turned to walk away together, Judy's voice rang out behind them, filled with weariness, sadness and concern. "Danny, I realize you haven't yet figured out what you want to do with your life," she said softly, prompting him to pivot slowly to face her, "But Lacey has wanted to be a nurse since she was a little girl. She's always had a gift for helping people. She is so close to achieving her dream. Do you really want to jeopardize her future like this?"

"That is not fair, Mom!" Lacey cried furiously before Danny could answer, "Don't you dare put that on him! He didn't do anything _to_ me! We did it together! We made this baby _together_!"

Judy ignored her irate daughter to address Danny directly. "This isn't what she needs," she told him, her tone filled with unspoken entreaty, "You _know_ this isn't what she needs. Do the right thing."

"Stop it!" Lacey hissed, "Stop talking about me like I'm not in the room!"

Danny attempted to soothe her anger by pressing several, calming kisses to her temple. "Shh...shh..., it's okay," he murmured to her, "We expected this, remember? She's entitled to feel the way she does." Only when he was sure that Lacey had a better grip on her emotions did he finally turn to address Judy and all the things she had said to him.

"Mrs. Porter, I realize that this isn't an ideal situation for you," he began respectfully, "I know this isn't what you envisioned for Lacey. I know that I'm probably not _who_ you envisioned for her but I'm the one she's chosen and I love her. I love her so much. I'm not going to jeopardize her future. I would never do that. I want to help her achieve her dreams. That's all."

"And how is that going to happen while she's busy raising your child, hmm?" Judy wondered bluntly, "Her entire life is about to change! Don't you get that? Neither of you have any idea what you're about to get yourselves into."

Lacey huffed in anger. "Well, we can't do any worse than you and Daddy, now can we?" she bit out.

"Don't do that," Judy replied, "Don't throw what happened with your father in my face just because you don't like what you're hearing. You need a dose of reality, Lacey!"

"You don't get to lecture me about what makes a successful marriage when you couldn't even make your own work!"

"I'm trying to give you the benefit of my experience!"

"Save it! Danny and I will make our own way! We don't need your approval!"

Lacey didn't give Judy the opportunity to make a reply to that but instead snagged hold of Danny's hand and practically dragged him from the house in a wrathful stomp. Left with no other choice but to keep pace with her, Danny obediently followed Lacey to his car, asking her along the way, "Where exactly are we going, Lace?"

"I don't know! Anywhere is fine! I don't care," she bit back, "As long as we're far away from here!"

Danny obliged her by climbing into the driver's seat and cranking the ignition. But it was clear to Lacey when he moved his hands to grip that steering wheel that he was shaking all over. Realizing belatedly that he was truly upset and shaken after their confrontation with her mother, Lacey reached across the expanse to lay a comforting hand against his forearm before he could shift the car into drive and pull away from the curbside.

"You can't let what she said get to you," she whispered knowingly, "She doesn't know what she's talking about, Danny. She was just trying to guilt you into convincing me to have an abortion."

"Should I convince you?" he lamented mournfully, "What if she's right and I _am_ ruining your life, Lacey?"

"Danny, come on!"

"Let's be realistic here. I don't know what the hell I'm doing and neither do you," he argued, "The only examples we've had for marriage both failed miserably. Maybe this is more than we can handle. Maybe we shouldn't be doing this."

"Doing what?" she challenged tautly, "Having a baby? Getting married? Or being together period?" He didn't say anything in answer to her questions but Lacey didn't need him to. What he was thinking right then was written all over his face. "Oh no, no..." she said with a firm shake of her head, "We're not going back to this old argument again, Desai. I love you and I want you and I want a family with you. That's the only thing that matters."

"I'm scared, Lace," he choked, "I don't think you understand how truly _terrified_ I am right now. I don't want you to look back one day and hate me. I don't want you to have regrets about us."

"I could never hate you and I could never regret us."

The spurt of laughter that escaped him sounded more like a broken sob to Lacey's ears. "I think we both know that's not true!"

"Danny Desai, I have _never_ hated you or regretted us," Lacey maintained sternly, "Not really. Not even when I really put my mind to it."

He slumped down in the driver's seat and squeezed the bridge of his nose, in hopes of warding off the throbbing headache that suddenly threatened. "That was so much more awful than I was imagining it would be," he muttered, "I knew your mom would be unhappy but all that stuff she said... She probably thinks I'm the worst thing that ever happened to you."

"I don't think that and my opinion is the only one that matters." He favored her with a dubious, sideways glance which earned him an aggravated punch in the shoulder from Lacey. "I don't! You're a challenge to love. That much is true, but that's what makes loving you so sweet."

Danny found himself giving into to a reluctant smile despite his present misery. "You're so full of shit, Porter."

Lacey drew back with a mock gasp of affront. "I was speaking from the heart just now. You wound me." Encouraged by his eye rolling smile, she reached down into the pocket of her sweatpants and produced the ring box. " _Now_ can I look at it," she whispered eagerly.

"Really? Your timing is lousy. Do you know that?" Lacey merely shrugged at the charge. Danny shook his head in exasperated defeat. "Go ahead."

She flipped back the box top, half expecting to find a diamond, encrusted platinum band that was designed to be part of a ring set and had become a rather popular choice for engagement rings in recent years. Instead, she found an antique heirloom of gleaming silver in a braided pattern that was beset with a full carat princess cut diamond that gleamed in the sunlight and tiny, sparkling studs embedded in the band. Lacey plucked the ring from its white, satin bed for closer examination, her breath escaping her in a muted sigh.

"It's so beautiful..." she whispered in awe, "How old is this?"

"Super, super old. It belonged to my grandmother," he told her, "And before that, it belonged to _her_ grandmother and before that my great, great, great, great grandmother who was an English baroness. Mimi gave it to my mom shortly after she and Vikram were married as part of the family tradition."

"Did Mimi know you were going to use it to propose to me?" Lacey pressed with some measure of fluttery panic, "Is that why she gave it to you?"

"No, she doesn't know...not _yet_. She gave me the ring a long time ago, when I first went to live with them," he explained, "It was one of the few things they had left of my mom after she died. When Mimi gave it to me, I think she just wanted me to have some piece of my past and maybe she was even hoping that perhaps, one day, I'd pass the ring down to my future daughter as it had been passed down to her. But the second we decided to get married, I knew that I wanted to give it to you instead."

Lacey snapped the box closed and passed it to Danny with a determined jut of her chin. "So do that."

"Do what?"

"Propose to me. Right now."

"Lacey, come on! This isn't the time or the place."

"It's the perfect time and place."

"No, it's not. We're in my car," he maintained dryly, "Our present situation generally sucks. You're fighting with your mom. _And_ she is currently peeking out the living room window at us as we speak."

Lacey spared a cursory glance over her shoulder to confirm that her mother was indeed spying on them. She dismissed the knowledge with a scoffing eye roll and swiveled back around to face a sullen Danny. "Forget about her for a minute," she said, "This is about me and you. This is about us officially starting our lives together. So let's do it right now."

"Why doesn't it seem like you're joking?"

"Because I'm not. Let's do this, Desai."

Danny sighed in longsuffering. "What is wrong with you? You're really weird, do you know that? Why do you keep insisting I do this when the timing is all wrong?"

She cupped the back of his head and brought him closer for a tender, nibbling kiss. Only when he relaxed enough to finally respond to her did Lacey attempt to reason with him again. "It's just you and me right now, babe. How can the timing be wrong when we're together?"

"But what about the rest of it? Don't you want the dinner and the serenading and the whole 'down on bended knee' thing?" he asked her, "Don't you want the romance and the big gesture?"

"I want you," Lacey countered with quiet sincerity, "Just you. So put it on my finger and make it official." She closed her eyes and wiggled her ring finger at him in invitation. "Any time now."

Laughing at her general lack of reverence and regard for tradition, Danny dutifully opened the box and took the ring from its bedding to slip it onto Lacey's finger. The moment felt astoundingly right. It was a little big for her and would require some resizing but other than that, it was perfect. In that instant none of the drama with her mother or the uncertainty concerning their future together seemed to matter much at all. Right at that very second, Danny Desai had everything he had ever needed and it was enough. He sealed his mouth to Lacey's in a fervent kiss.

"Will you be my wife, Lacey Porter?" he whispered sweetly.

"Yes," she answered without hesitation, throwing her arms around his neck in an enthusiastic hug, "For the rest of my life."


	3. Them Can't Do Right Blues

**Them "Can't Do Right" Blues**

Lacey patted down her hair and body in a self-conscious once-over. "How do I look again?" she queried nervously, "This skirt isn't too short, is it?" It was the fifth time she had asked the question in the last ten minutes. By that point, she knew she was being more than a little obsessive but she could hardly help herself. In Lacey's opinion, she had ample reason to feel ill at ease considering she and Danny were facing the looming prospect of telling his grandparents about their impending marriage...and baby.

Danny paused in the act of ringing his grandparents' doorbell to appraise Lacey with an exasperated sideways glance. "Would you relax? I've told you fifty times already that you look perfect!"

"Yes, but do I look _pregnant_?" she emphasized a little wildly, "Will your grandmother be able to take one look at me and just know the truth?"

Her irrational fear caused Danny to smile a bit. He looped his arm around her shoulder and brought her close to his side so that he could nuzzle a reassuring kiss to her temple. "It's going to be fine," he murmured in a surprisingly confident tone, "You know that, right?"

"It doesn't feel like it's going to be fine," Lacey muttered miserably, "I gotta pee like every two minutes. I've been nauseated all day. My boobs are aching. And, to top it all off," she finished in a dour tone, "apparently, _your entire family_ is going to be in attendance tonight!" She hitched her thumb in the direction of the various cars presently crowded into the Kincaid driveway with a sour expression before spearing Danny with an accusing glower. "I thought this dinner was supposed to be just us and your grandparents. You couldn't give me a little warning first?"

Danny threw up his hands in a gesture of innocence. "Hey, don't look at me like that! I was just as in the dark about this as you were. Though I'm not completely surprised," he added in a mildly irritated mutter, "This does fit my Mimi's m.o. to a tee."

Lacey shook her head in growing panic, clutching reflexively at her engagement ring which currently hung from a simple, silver chain around her neck. She and Danny had agreed that they wouldn't flaunt the news of their official engagement to anyone until after his grandparents were made aware. That was the very reason they had agreed to Mimi's dinner invitation that night, even though they had more than enough to get accomplished that weekend. This night would likely be their last opportunity for a long while to give the Kincaids the news face to face. However, just because Lacey knew their timeframe was limited that didn't mean she was in any way _eager_ to deliver the news.

"I can't go through with it, Danny. It's too many people here!" She snagged hold of his forearm and began tugging him down from the porch and back towards the car, clearly determined to leave before anyone had been alerted to their arrival. "Let's come back tomorrow afternoon and tell them then! Better yet, let's write them a letter after we're back in Green Grove!"

Much to her frustration, Danny hesitated and stubbornly dragged his feet behind her. "Lacey, stop this. We're adults," he reasoned mildly, "What's the worst that can happen? For crying out loud, we're telling them that we're getting married not that we're living a secret life as drug kingpins! It won't be that bad!"

Lacey rounded on him with a dubious scowl. "Oh yeah? Tell that to my mom! I'm not looking forward to a repeat performance of that, Danny!"

"It won't go down like that," he reassured her mildly, "Your mom has all of these expectations for you, hopes that she's had your entire life. Of course, she feels like she's watching you flush your dreams down the toilet. But my grandparents barely know me. There are no expectations there. They'll probably be shocked but that's about it."

"You're oversimplifying."

"I don't think I am."

From the look on her face, it was clear that Lacey wasn't buying his argument in the slightest. She waved her hand at him in unequivocal refusal. "Nope. Sorry. I'm not going in there."

"We have to tell them tonight, Lacey, because _tomorrow_ I'm moving back to Green Grove, remember? They deserve better than to have me drop them a line after the fact!"

He thought that reminder would be enough to convince her but when he tried to coax her back onto the porch so that they could proceed into the house, Lacey scuttled out of his reach. He bit out a frustrated curse. "Are you kidding me right now?" To his dumbfounded surprise, his pragmatic and usually poised fiancée began to break down into fitful tears. Danny stumbled back a step.

"You don't understand! I cannot face your grandmother, Danny!" she wailed, "She thinks I'm a nice girl!"

He blinked at her in rising concern as he carefully tried to close the distance between them, as if he were approaching a cornered animal that might bolt at any given second. "You _are_ a nice girl."

"No, I mean a nice girl who doesn't agree to marry her traumatized and emotionally fragile grandson, forcing him to move back to a place filled with horrible memories for him and making him a father and husband way before he's ready!" Danny froze in place at that unflattering assessment of him, his expression evidently betraying some measure of affront because Lacey quickly added, "I'm not saying that's what _I_ think but that's what _she'll_ think!"

"She's not going to think that," Danny refuted, not realizing right then that he was worsening Lacey's fears by failing to validate them, "You're being irrational."

"I am _not_ being irrational! Why shouldn't she think that, Danny?" Lacey posited a little frantically, "Why shouldn't they _all_ think that? I'm the same girl who left you alone in a hospital for months when you had no one else! I'm the same girl who hurt you so badly that you shut down emotionally! Do you think that's she's forgotten that? Because _I_ haven't!"

Danny moved forward to take hold of her before she could go off the rails any further. "Lacey, listen to me," he whispered fiercely, framing her face in his hands so that she had no other choice than to meet his eyes. He brushed away the tears falling on her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. "My grandmother loves you. She has wanted us to be together since the very beginning. You know that."

"There's a big difference between wanting us to date and wanting you to marry me," she sniffled.

"I doubt Mimi will see it that way."

She pressed her face into his shirtfront to weep softly. "I don't want her to hate me like my mom hates you," she sobbed.

Left with very little recourse in the matter, Danny gathered Lacey against him tightly and simply allowed her to cry it out, gently stroking her hair and murmuring, "It's okay...it's okay, baby..." against her temple again and again as she did. When she had finally expended herself and her sobs became little more than intermittent hiccups, Danny tipped his head down to regard her in tentative expectation. "Better now?"

Lacey cleared her throat and shrugged from his loosened embrace with a chagrined scowl, belatedly realizing how foolish she must have seemed to him in the last few minutes. Although he didn't say it, she was pretty sure he thought she was a lunatic. The possibility alone was enough to compel her into a quick recoup of her composure.

"Uh...I'm sorry about that," she managed with all the dignity she could muster, "I don't really know where that came from just now. I guess I've been feeling a little hormonal lately."

"Yeah...I can tell."

She squared her shoulders and whisked away the remaining remnants of her tears. "Do I look okay? Has my makeup run?" she asked Danny, "The last thing I want to do is go in there looking like a deranged raccoon."

He inspected her closely. "No, your makeup is fine. Your eyes are a little red and puffy but, other than that, you look beautiful."

"Good. I'm ready to go in now."

"Are you sure?" he pressed tentatively, "If you need some more time, that's okay with me."

"Danny, you can't spend the entire night chasing me around your grandparents' circle driveway," Lacey reasoned in a practical tone, "Let's just go in there and get this over with."

He started to argue further that perhaps she should take a few minutes more to get herself together when the front door of the house was abruptly flung open wide. "Danny? Lacey?" his grandmother called in exasperation from the doorway, "What are you two just standing out here? Come on into the house!"

After exchanging a dread filled glance with Lacey, Danny dutifully took hold of her hand and walked with her slowly back towards the house. "Sorry, Mimi. We were just about to come inside."

"Good. The family is all here." As they drew closer she began to take notice of the tension lining both of their faces, particularly Lacey's. It also didn't escape Mimi's attention that the young woman seemed to have difficulty meeting her eyes. "Is everything alright?" she asked Danny before they could pass her to go on into the house.

"Everything is fine," he replied in a deceptively mild tone, "Lacey only got into town an hour ago and then we came straight here."

Mimi followed them into the foyer with a concerned frown. "You should have said something if tonight was going to be an inconvenience for you, Danny."

Lacey was already voicing a reply to that before Danny even had an opportunity to open his mouth. "It's not an inconvenience at all, Mrs. Kincaid. Thank you for inviting me tonight. I'm just a little tired after six hours in the car. That's all."

"Of course, dear," Mimi acknowledged with a warm smile, "Why don't you go into the den and let our housekeeper Agnes fix you something cool to drink?" She furtively snagged hold of Danny's shirt sleeve when he would have followed Lacey. "What's going on?" she pressed him in an urgent whisper, "Are you two having a fight?"

Danny swallowed back an exasperated laugh over her unrepentant nosiness. "No, Mimi. We're fine." Her expression remained unconvinced, prompting him to add a little defensively, "I promise!"

"She looks like she's been crying," Mimi observed quietly, "I'm only asking out of concern."

Unable to divulge the true reason Lacey was upset to her just yet and also reluctant to lie to her, Danny settled on giving Mimi a half truth instead. "She's going through a rough time with her mom right now. I think it's starting to wear on her."

"Oh no. I'm so sorry to hear that. Lacey seems like such a sweet girl. It pains me to think of her being at odds with her mother, especially after all they've suffered as a family this past year."

Danny averted his eyes with the bitter sensation of guilt that unfurled in his gut. He had already been kicking himself plenty for inadvertently causing a wedge between Lacey and her mother, whose relationship had always been close and uncontested until recently. Mimi, with her well meaning words, had only managed to make him feel even worse.

"Yeah," he agreed in a self-deprecating grunt, "It pains me too."

Mimi took a deep breath and put on her most dazzling smile, hoping to dispel any lingering gloom, and linked her arm with Danny's. "Well, we won't think about any of that tonight," she determined brightly, "I'll personally see to it that Lacey has a good time while she's here."

When Danny and Mimi entered the den together a few moments later, they found Lacey seated on the sofa with a soda can pressed between her hands. She was also wedged between Rico and Charlie as the twins excitedly showed her the latest apps on their cell phones. Lacey was making quite an effort to appear engaged in the subject matter but it clear from the uneasy look on her face that she felt a bit out of place. Seemingly unaware of that unease, however, Rico scooted closer to her and murmured something in her ear that caused Lacey to rear back from him with a startled scowl. Danny cleared his throat to alert the three to his and Mimi's presence.

Rico left his head to favor Danny with a careless smile. "Hey, cuz! I was just trying to convince Lacey to become my Facebook friend." He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively. "But she's playing hard to get."

"Roderick James Kincaid!" Mimi admonished sharply, "Will you please stop flirting with your cousin's girlfriend? It's bad manners." Danny groaned her name in mortification. "My apologies, sweetheart, I forgot," Mimi amended in an obliging tone, "You and Lacey are _'just friends.'_ You are absolutely _not_ dating even though that is exactly how it _looks_." She appraised him with a deadpan look. "Really, I must tell you that no one actually believes that you and Lacey are only friends, dear."

Charlie raised his hand in agreement. "I know I don't."

Rico then piped in with, "But I'd really _like_ to believe it. She's hot."

"Too bad," Danny replied dryly, "Because she's taken."

His determined cousin then bounced a look over at Lacey for confirmation. "Is it true? Are you really with this guy?"

Lacey inclined her head in an amused nod. "I'm afraid so."

Rico slumped forward dramatically and expelled a gusty sigh of disappointment. "Well, scratch what I just said to you then," he told her, " _But_ , if you guys break up, I reserve the right to revisit the subject."

His grandmother threw up her hands in exasperation. "Rico, get out of here and let Agnes know that we're ready for dinner."

As he obediently shuffled from the room, his twin brother joined him, chiding him over his audacity. While Rico was the bolder of the two, Charlie tended to be more cautious and spent a good majority of his time trying to reign in his brother's wildness. Consequently, the last thing Lacey, Mimi and Danny heard from Rico before he and his brother exited, despite Charlie's frantic attempts to shush him, was, "What can I say, bro? She really _is_ hot!"

Mimi favored both Lacey and Danny with an apologetic smile. "He's much too much like his father," she mumbled, "Not even eighteen years old yet and already he thinks he's God's gift to women."

"That must be a family trait," Lacey interjected with a meaningful glance over at Danny, "He was the same way when we met."

Surprised to learn that, especially because the image seemed so incongruent with the quiet, introverted and solemn young man she had come to know, Mimi regarded Danny, who was managing to endure Lacey's ribbing with tolerant grace, with an affectionate smile. "Really? So the tabloids weren't exaggerating after all. You _were_ a ladies' man."

"Please don't say it like that, Mimi," Danny whimpered in horrified response, "When it comes out of your mouth, it just sounds wrong."

"Yup. He definitely had a way with women," Lacey confirmed with a laugh, "Actually, he was worse. You should have heard the line he used on me when we first met."

"You'll have to tell me the story sometime. I'd like to hear it." A profound moment of silence passed between them before Mimi, sensing that Lacey and Danny might want sometime alone together before dinner, politely excused herself.

After she was gone, Danny settled down on the sofa next to Lacey. "Feeling better now?" he asked softly.

Lacey showcased the half empty soda can in her hand. "Sipping on this helped a lot with the nausea."

"What about the other thing?"

She dropped her eyes at the tacit reminder of her earlier breakdown. "I'm still working out the other thing," she mumbled before adding somewhat reluctantly, "So what took you so long with Mimi? Did you tell her about me?"

"Relax. Everything is okay. She saw that you had been crying and she thought we'd had a fight."

"Oh, okay then," Lacey replied, wilting with relief, "What did you tell her?"

"I told her that you were having problems with your mom."

"And she believed you?"

Danny shrugged. "It's the truth, isn't it?"

Lacey traced the edge of the soda can with her fingernail. "I don't really want to think about that right now," she sighed dejectedly.

"Well, what _do_ you want to do?"

She ventured an ironic glance up at him. "Hiding in a corner sounds like a pretty good idea."

That reply wrung a short, stunned laugh from Danny. "What about after that?"

"I guess we need to find a private moment to sit your grandparents down to tell them they're going to be great grandparents."

Danny reached over to take hold of her hand. He gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze. "No matter what happens tonight, you and I have each other's backs," he told her, "As long as that's true, we can get through anything. Right?"

"Right."

As they shifted to their feet together in preparation to join the rest of the family for dinner, Danny asked, "So what was Rico whispering to you when Mimi and I walked in earlier? You looked shocked."

Lacey found herself giggling at the memory. "He told me that he didn't mind that I was older than him," she laughed, "That he liked his women _mature_. He actually said those exact words!"

"Seriously?" Danny snorted, " _That_ was his line? Come on! I was never that cheesy!"

"You were close, Desai," Lacey told him as they walked out together, "You were very close."

Dinner was a predictably raucous affair. The Kincaids exchanged boisterous conversation at the table and it seemed that no subject at all was ever off limits. There was nothing taboo among them and it seemed that everyone knew everyone else's business. The particular topic of discussion that seemed to interest most everyone at the particular moments seemed to be Danny and his immediate plans for his future and there wasn't a single person at the table who wasn't ready to throw in their two cents about it. The close knit kinship that existed between the Kincaid family members still felt wholly foreign to Danny and, therefore, left him feeling ill at ease when he found himself the focus of conversation.

He dropped his head forward with a longsuffering groan. "Oh God, not this again," he muttered under his breath, "Can we _please_ talk about something else tonight?"

"No, we cannot," his grandfather countered smoothly, "because you can't work at a hardware store for the rest of your life, Danny. You're wasting your potential."

"And what potential is that exactly?" Danny scoffed dryly after taking a sip of water, "I'm not some wunderkind destined for greatness. I have no marketable skills whatsoever and I've completed exactly half a semester of college."

"The fact that you use a phrase like 'wunderkind' fairly proves my point."

Danny rolled his eyes. "So I have a diverse vocabulary," he scoffed, "Big deal! The point is, I'm actually _lucky_ that Grady's Hardware was willing to hire me without any job experience or even a reference to my name."

"Well, good for Grady," Cam muttered dryly, "But I happen to think you can do better than hawking screwdrivers, son."

Next to Danny, Lacey cleared her throat demurely and murmured, "He's right, you know. You can." Danny's eyes fairly burned into her skull following that statement. She picked up her dinner roll from her plate and took a bite, pretending not to notice the withering glare he was directing her way. "I'm just saying."

"You're supposed to be on _my_ side," he muttered to her in an aggravated under-breath.

"I _am_ on your side."

Despite her sincere reassurance, however, Danny well knew that the floodgates had been ripped open with her offhand comment. His grandmother, unsurprisingly, used the opportunity to speak exactly what was on her mind at that moment. Danny knew not to expect anything good when Mimi set aside her knife and fork and regarded him with solemn, blue eyes.

"You know, not that you've asked my opinion at all, Danny-,"

"-which has somehow never stopped you from giving it," Danny inserted crossly. His uncle mumbled a sardonic "ain't that the truth" under his breath agreement directly after. "So, please, say what's on your mind, Mimi."

"Thank you _,_ " Mimi replied smartly after a warning glare leveled at both her son and grandson, "I still maintain my original position. I think you should move back in here and re-enroll in college. There are plenty of schools in the area for you to chose from."

"College isn't for everyone, Mimi," Danny argued stubbornly, "I don't think I'm cut out for it. I don't even really know what I want to do with my life yet."

"College can help you figure that out, sweetheart. What are you interested in?"

Danny moodily contemplated the embroidered pattern of the tablecloth and muttered to himself, "Hell if I know."

"Well, in the meantime, while you're figuring it out," his grandfather interjected, "You could finally quit that godforsaken hardware job and focus on what's really important! Take the opportunity to find yourself and discover what you want and who you want to be."

"What if what I want is to work in a hardware store?" Danny challenged.

His grandfather leveled him with a deadpan expression. "Bullshit."

"Cameron!" his wife gasped in dismay, "Not at the table!"

While Cam murmured his apologies for offending his wife's tender sensibilities, Danny found himself momentarily distracted from the argument by the sudden loss of color to Lacey experienced to her rich, brown skin. The expression on her face was also very telling. She looked as if she was concentrating extremely hard on not throwing up. Danny's irritation with his grandparents quickly gave way to concern over Lacey.

"Are you okay?" he asked anxiously, "Do you feel sick?"

Lacey clenched her jaw tightly against the urge to vomit, inwardly cursing God and the random bouts of nausea that continued to plague her. It was several seconds before she was able to answer Danny's question because she was too afraid that she would get sick if she even _attempted_ to open her mouth. Finally, she swallowed several times and managed from between gritted teeth, "I'm just a little queasy. It'll pass."

The assurance wasn't enough for Danny. He hovered over her solicitously. "Do you need some crackers or more Gingerale? Tell me what you need."

"Danny, I'm fine," she insisted with some measure of self-consciousness, acutely aware of the curious stares they were receiving from his family, most particularly from his Uncle Chase's wife Dana. She was looking at them with an almost knowing expression. Lacey lowered her eyes from under the other woman's speculative stare and murmured, "I promise everything is okay. Don't make a big deal about it."

From her spot adjacent to her husband on the opposite end of the dining table, Mimi noted their exchange, despite not having heard the majority of it, with a curious and concerned frown. "Did something not agree with you, sweetheart?"

Lacey forced a feeble smile. "No, ma'am. Everything is delicious. I'm just feeling a little tired."

Not at all mollified by her reassurance, Danny politely folded his napkin and set it aside. His next words were expressed to his grandparents in apology. "I think maybe I should take her home."

Far from amenable to that idea, Lacey shook her head wildly and caught hold of his wrist before he could scrape back his chair and shift to his feet. "Danny, no," she protested in a low whisper, "Don't do that. I don't want you to cut your time with your family short on my account. I'd feel horrible."

He leaned in closer to her, so that his words could not be overheard by those at the table when he said, "You don't feel well. I think this day has been too much stress for you."

"Then I'm really going to have a tough road ahead of me if _driving in the car_ is too much stress for me," Lacey hissed back sarcastically. She added in a louder tone, "I'm fine and I want to stay."

"Are you sure?" Danny pressed anxiously.

Across the table, Cam Kincaid boomed a shrewd laugh. "Be careful how you answer, Lacey," he told her, "You might be providing my grandson with the perfect excuse to continue his avoidance dance."

"Stop it. I'm not avoiding anything," Danny denied crossly.

"Oh, bullshit," his uncle Chase coughed none too discreetly behind his hand.

While his sons and father snickered under their breaths at his antics, his mother was far from amused. She shot her husband a dark frown. "You see what you've started?" she snapped before leveling her only son with a quelling glare. "Now, Chase, you know better than to use that kind of language in my presence! What kind of example are you setting for the boys?"

"Danny just said 'hell' and you never said a word!" Chase sputtered in protest.

Mimi folded her hands primly and said, "That's different. 'Hell' is in the Bible."

Chase threw up his hands over the clear display of favoritism. "Unbelievable!"

"Ha, ha! Dad got told," Rico crowed to his twin rather triumphantly in the wake of his father's scolding, "Not so fun to be on the receiving end of things, is it, Pop?"

"First of all, how many times have I asked you to stop calling me 'Pop?'" Chase demanded of his eldest twin irritably, "And second of all, I'd be careful if I were you. Remember who's giving you a ride home tonight. It's a long, lonely walk, Rico."

"Mom won't let you leave me stranded," Rico declared with a confident air.

"I think it's best that you leave 'Mom' out of it," Dana replied demurely.

Quickly ascertaining that he wasn't going to garner much support on that front, Rico threw a hopeful glance towards his cousin instead. "That's okay. Danny would be happy to take me home," he decided presumptuously only to add in afterthought, "You wouldn't leave me hanging, right bro?"

"Only if you're planning to leave in the next two minutes," Danny replied dryly, "Lacey and I are going to get going now."

While Danny still felt largely unfamiliar with the intimate camaraderie that existed between his family members, Lacey was clearly enjoying the exchange and felt quite at home. She approved greatly of the warm, loving and albeit _prying_ family environment for her reticent fiancé. If anything she was convinced that the Kincaids would teach him the meaning of what a true family could be. Unfortunately, she knew that Danny would never fully benefit from their influence if he kept seeking out ways to isolate himself. Cameron Kincaid had been right about that indeed. Danny was using her as a means of avoidance but Lacey was determined not to make it that easy for him.

"I already told you I was okay," she whispered to him, "Besides, we still haven't done what we came here to do."

"That can wait if you're not feeling well," Danny argued in a discreet tone, "I don't want you to sit here feeling miserable."

"I don't feel miserable," Lacey said in a louder tone, "Do you?"

"I'd say he does," Chase reasoned intuitively, "This is probably the longest he's stuck around after the subject of his future is mentioned. He's usually out the door in five seconds flat."

"Two seconds if he puts his mind to it," Charlie added in a snicker.

Lacey smiled in commiseration. "Yeah, I know all too well how quickly Danny can shut down when it comes to a topic he doesn't want to talk about."

"Does anybody care that I'm sitting right here while you discuss me like I'm not in the room?"

Chase dismissed Danny's aggravated query with a short laugh. "If you think this is something, Lacey, you should have seen how quickly Danny cut out of here after Dad offered him a job," he chuckled, "I think he actually left skid marks in his wake that day."

While almost everyone at the table laughed at his joke, Danny immediately ducked his head with a longsuffering groan when Lacey whipped around to face him with a stunned double-take. "What is he talking about, Danny?" she demanded in a mildly accusing whisper, "What job?"

"Uh-oh," Charlie muttered under his breath, "Somebody's in trouble..."

Cam cleared his throat awkwardly. "You didn't tell her, Danny?"

"No," Lacey answered curtly, her words clipped and precise when she spoke, "He did not. What job?"

Danny ventured a careful glance around at his family's faces in unhappy confirmation that he and Lacey currently had their undivided attention. He scooted closer to Lacey in the hope of maintaining a somewhat discreet exchange. "Can we go someplace else so I can explain to you?" he whispered.

Lacey crossed her arms mutinously, the sudden churning anger in her belly only worsening her nausea. For the moment, she clamped down against it to face off with Danny, her scowl blazing. "No. Explain it to me now. _What job_ , Danny?"

Chase attempted to backpedal at that point in a vain effort to save his nephew from the severe tongue lashing he suspected was coming Danny's way. "It wasn't that big of a deal, Lacey," he explained, "Just a crummy entry level assistant job with even crummier pay. I don't blame Danny for turning it down." He paused to wink at his father playfully. "The old man was being a cheapskate."

Unfortunately, Lacey's anger wasn't the least bit diffused by Chase Kincaid's humor. She stared at Danny with hurt, disbelieving eyes. "Why didn't you say anything to me about it?"

"Because I wasn't going to take the job! It was a moot point."

"But we should have _discussed_ it, at least, explored your options as a couple before you just turned it down! And then you didn't even mention it to me!"

"Why did I need to mention it?" Danny flung back in exasperation, "It wouldn't have changed my decision so there was no point in talking about it!"

Lacey tightened her jaw. "Right. I guess I just don't factor into your personal decisions at all!"

"That is not fair! The whole reason I said no was because it would have required me to stay here and that wasn't the plan we had!" Painfully aware that they were airing their grievances publicly at his grandparents' dinner table, Danny softened his tone and requested humbly, "Can we please finish this in private?"

"I don't think I have anything else to say to you right now," Lacey determined with a haughty lift of her chin, "What's done is done."

She straightened in her chair and took hold of her fork and knife, as if she planned to resume eating dinner as if nothing had happened, seemingly impervious to the resounding silence at the dinner table. However, just as soon as she had taken the silverware in her hands, she set them back down again and abruptly pushed back her chair. "If you'll excuse me," she announced with all the dignity she could muster, "I have to go throw up now." The last thing she did before she went sprinting from the dining room was to furiously wave away Danny's helpless attempt to follow her.

The silence that followed in her wake was even more deafening than the first time. Not a single person at the table could meet Danny's eyes directly, which was a good thing because he couldn't meet their eyes either. No one moved or breathed or said much of anything for several seconds until Dana Kincaid finally broke the silence with one, simple question.

"So how far along is she?"

Five pairs of eyes ricocheted to Danny's face with varying degrees of astonishment, surprise and speechlessness. Danny was sure that his face registered shock, guilt and fear all in rapid succession but, despite that, he didn't immediately give away the truth. "Excuse me?"

"How far along is Lacey's pregnancy?" Dana reiterated quietly, "Danny, I've been a doula and a lactation consultant for fifteen years. I know when a woman is pregnant."

Danny hunched forward in his chair with a dejected sigh. "Three months."

His confirmation served as the impetus Cam Kincaid needed to regain his voice. He stood up from the table and ordered, "Okay, everybody out. It seems that Mimi and I have some things to discuss with Danny and Lacey."

As the family obediently filed from the dining room amidst various degrees of grumbling, Danny said to his grandparents, "Before you enumerate all the many ways I've screwed up, can I please go check on her and make sure she's okay?"

Mimi inclined her head in a solemn nod. "Go ahead. Meet us back in here when you're done."

It was fairly easy to determine that Lacey had sought refuge in the downstairs guest bathroom since Danny found Agnes on her knees in the hallway, cleaning up the spot where Lacey had obviously expelled the remnants of her dinner. Danny mouthed a mortified apology to her as he carefully stepped around the gloppy mess and scuttled aside so that he could knock discreetly on the bathroom door. Unsurprisingly, Lacey didn't answer at first. He knocked again.

"Lacey, come on," he cajoled softly, "You can't stay locked in there all night."

Her muffled reply reached his ears through the thick door. "Watch me. I'm too humiliated to face your family again."

"You don't have to feel humiliated."

"Yes, I do! And that's _your_ fault."

Danny sighed in consternation and dropped his head forward so that it thumped against the bathroom door. "I told my grandparents about the baby," he said, giving her a moment to absorb that reality before adding, "They want to talk to us."

Seconds later, he heard the lock slip and the door opened a crack to reveal one of Lacey's eyes. "You just came right out and told them?" she huffed, "Really, Danny? What about everything we talked about? I thought we were going to do it together."

"Well, you made that a little impossible when you ran from the room to vomit!" Danny retorted shortly.

"Are you blaming _me_?"

"I'm not saying that," he soothed, "I'm saying that they know and now they want to discuss it."

Lacey swung the door open wide with a reticent grunt. "Fine."

Danny loosely caught hold of her wrist when she would have walked past him. "Wait," he entreated, "I want make things right between us before we go in there."

Far from being in a reasonable mood, Lacey snatched her hand back from his grasp. "Oh now you want to talk?"

"If I had told you that my grandfather had offered me a job, then what, Lacey?"

"Maybe we could have found some way to make it work together," she said, "Or maybe we would have decided it was better for you to turn it down after all. The point is, _we_ would have decided instead of just _you_."

"So now I have to run every little thing by you before I make a decision?" Danny demanded testily.

"That's what couples do!" Lacey flared, "Especially couples who are planning to get _married_ , Danny!"

Although he managed to suppress his answering eye roll, Danny wasn't quite as successful at dispelling the sarcasm from his tone when he asked, "Are you sure this isn't you being hormonal again?"

It was the wrong thing to say and he knew that even before Lacey responded with a frosty, "Go to hell!"

By the time they rejoined his grandparents in the living room, the tension between Danny and Lacey had increased exponentially and he was now unfairly angry with her for her being angry with him. It was childish and petty but he couldn't grasp _why_ she was upset with him in the first place when he had done nothing wrong. As a result of their inability to see each other's individual point of view, Danny and Lacey ended up sitting two chairs apart when they took their places at the dining room table with Cam and Mimi. It wasn't the most stellar way to begin a conversation about getting married.

Because the young couple remained mulishly silent, Cam had no choice but to be the first one to address the situation. "So you two are having a baby," he said in opening, "What are you planning to do about that?"

"Well, first of all we're having it," Danny informed him rather tersely, "And second of all, we're getting married." The last of that statement seemed particularly ironic due to the fact he and Lacey seemed quite adverse to one another's company right then. In fact, at present, they couldn't even look at one another.

Mimi blinked at him in surprise. "You're getting married?" she echoed aloud after exchanging a concerned glance with Cam, "When did this happen?"

"Last week."

"And you're doing it for the baby, I assume," she pressed further.

"We're doing it because we love each other," Danny countered brusquely.

Yet another darting look passed between Cam and Mimi before Cam said, "It was our understanding that you and Lacey were trying to build a friendship this entire time. That's what you've been telling us, Danny. That you and Lacey were only friends. Now, tonight, we find out that she's three months pregnant, which means that the two of you have been involved this entire time. Why not just say so?"

"Because we haven't been involved," Danny maintained, "We _were_ trying to be friends but something happened between us before all of that and that's when Lacey got pregnant."

"So you weren't together when Lacey conceived?" Mimi surmised.

"No."

"When did you get back together?"

Danny recognized their line of reasoning immediately following that question. Mimi had already implied what she was thinking early on and now he realized that both she and Cam clearly thought the theory held some merit. "It's not like that," he denied heatedly, "I didn't propose to Lacey because she's pregnant! I love her! I've always loved her!"

"We're not saying that you don't love her, Danny," his grandmother murmured soothingly, "Even with the two of you at odds right now, that is blindingly apparent. But marriage is a serious step and a serious responsibility. And if you weren't considering that step _prior_ to learning about Lacey's pregnancy, that is a bit concerning for us."

"You're wrong. I spent months fighting my feelings for her. But when I found out about the baby..." He trailed off with a rough swallow. "I just didn't want to deny what I felt for her anymore."

Mimi appraised Lacey with a piercing stare. "What about you, sweetheart?" she asked softly, "You've been quiet this entire time. What are your feelings about all of this?"

"I agree with everything that Danny has said so far," she whispered, "We love each other. We want to be together."

"Do you think you're ready for marriage?" Mimi challenged, "Do you think _he's_ ready?"

Lacey darted a helpless look at Danny, whose features were steadily tightening with mounting anger and frustration. "I...I don't know really," she answered as honestly as she could, "I know that Danny and I will probably have a lot of hurdles ahead of us but...I can't think of anyone else I'd rather jump them with than him." For the corner of her eye, she saw Danny respond to that with a glimmering smile.

"That's a very sweet sentiment," Mimi commended, "and I appreciate your willingness to support my grandson and I'm grateful for how fiercely you love him but I'm afraid for you both. As I'm sure you know, Danny is still very, very fragile emotionally. He still has great difficulty communicating his feelings and marriage is primarily about communication. That's going to be a huge obstacle to overcome."

"Stop it right now," Danny bit out before she could take her argument any further, "Don't try and undermine my relationship with her! Lacey and I came here tonight to tell you about our plans as a _courtesy_ , not to obtain your blessing! I'm not asking for your permission!"

Cam palmed his forehead wearily with Danny's angry rejoinder. "My God, you sound just like your mother. It's Karen all over again."

"The situations aren't remotely the same!" Danny retorted furiously, "My mother made the unfortunate mistake of marrying a degenerate abuser! That is _not_ the kind of relationship that Lacey and I have! She's good for me! She makes me happy! You don't get to turn that into something ugly!"

Mimi held out her hand for calm before the two men could sink further into a verbal pissing match. "That is not our intention, Danny," she reassured her grandson mildly, "What Cam and I are trying to do is provide you and Lacey with another option."

Lacey squinted at her wording. "What kind of option?"

"We want Danny to come back home to live with us," Mimi said, "We want him to enroll in school and figure out what he wants to do with his life because he's going to need to provide that baby with some financial stability when he or she is born. And, in the meantime, we'll make sure that all of your medical expenses are taken care of. Everything you need. You will lack for nothing, Lacey."

Danny narrowed his eyes in growing suspicion. "What's the catch? What's supposed to happen between Lacey and me in the meantime?"

"You two can continue to date just as you have been," his grandfather replied, "All we ask is that you wait until after you're finished with college to get married. Wait until you're a little more mature before taking such a weighty step."

"And having a kid together _isn't_ a weighty step?" Danny snorted.

"Of course it is," Mimi agreed, "But eventually your child will grow up and get married. Children move away and make families of their own. The person who stays with you through all of that is your _spouse_. That is a _lifelong_ commitment. You have to be certain you're making the right decision. Your mother rushed into it without thinking when she wasn't much older than you. I don't want to see you make the same mistake."

"I'm not my mother."

"Well, you sure as hell are doing a good impression of her!" Cam bit out gruffly, "You're damned stubborn and short-sighted just like she was, that's for sure!"

It was at that point that Danny shifted to his feet, a clear indication that he was ending the conversation. "That's enough," he said, "Listen, we may share blood, but you don't know the first thing about me! You've barely been in my life for a year so don't pretend like you know what motivates me or what I need! You're strangers with whom I happen to share DNA! That doesn't mean you get a say in my life!"

Cam and Mimi weren't the only ones left stricken in the wake of Danny's harsh words. Lacey was staggered as well. She stared up at him in disbelief. "I can't believe you just said that to them," she gasped, "That was uncalled for, Danny!"

His features flickered with guilt before his expression closed off altogether. "That doesn't make it any less true," he murmured. He turned away from the table then and started from the room, adding to Lacey over his shoulder before he left, "I'll be waiting in the car when you're ready."

After he was gone, Lacey was left alone to face his devastated grandparents. She stammered out remorseful apologies on his behalf. "I don't know what that was just now," she said, "That's not Danny."

"Yes, it is," Mimi murmured with thick resignation, "And don't worry about us, sweetheart. It's not anything we haven't heard before. Trust me. His mother said worse. Our Karen definitely had a mouth on her when she was irate."

"Is he really like her?" Lacey asked after rising from her chair.

Mimi smiled sadly. " _Exactly_ like her. Why do you think we're so worried about him?"

When Lacey finally joined Danny in the car, she didn't even have the opportunity to broach the subject of his behavior before he was cutting her off before she could begin. "Don't say a word," he snapped tersely without even looking at her when he threw the car into drive, "I don't want to talk about it."

They rode back to his apartment in painful silence with Lacey stewing the entire way. By the time they crossed the threshold of the front door, she was unable to contain it any longer. She rounded on him just as he tossed his car keys onto the living room coffee table.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she fired, "You owe your grandparents an apology!"

"For what?"

"For being an ungrateful ass for starters!"

"Didn't you hear what they were saying? They were comparing our relationship to _Karen and Vikram_ , of all people! It was condescending, not to mention insulting!"

"That's not what they were doing!" Lacey argued, "They were questioning whether or not we were being rash in our decision to get married and I have to admit that they might have a point about that!"

Danny snapped to attention, reacting as if she had just smacked him hard across the face. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"That you _do_ have a problem with communication. That it _is_ a problem."

"So what? Are you saying you don't want to get married now?"

Lacey faltered a bit because that was certainly not what she wanted but, at the same time, she was fearful of making a mistake. When she answered her indecision was reflected in her tone. "I'm saying that maybe we have some stuff to work out between us first."

His countenance gradually became a glacial mask, concealing the abject pain her words caused him. "You know what, Lacey?" he said, bending forward to sweep up his car keys, "Fuck _you_."

"Danny, don't be this way-,"

" _No, fuck you!_ " He stabbed an accusing finger at her. "This is exactly why I didn't want to do this shit with you!" he grated, "As soon as things get a little tough, you go running just like always! Not a damned thing has changed! I should have listened to my instincts and stayed the hell away from you!"

"Danny, no, don't walk out! Where are you going?" she cried as he stormed from the apartment, "Danny, wait! Stay and talk to me! You can't just end the conversation like this!" But he didn't even spare her a backwards glance as he jumped in his car and sped off into the night.

Lacey retreated back inside with a mournful cry. In hindsight, she wondered if she had pushed him too much or if she hadn't been patient enough before she veered mercurially towards blame and anger because Danny had been too quick to think the worst of her, to lose faith in her. He talked a very good game about how _she_ was always the one to run but, _he_ did his fair share of running as well. However, no matter whose fault it had been, the end result was still the same. She was alone. Filled to the brim with frustration, her heart numb, her throat aching with unshed tears and feeling more lonely than she ever had in her entire life, Lacey curled up onto the futon and fitfully cried herself to sleep.

Hours later, her next awareness was of nibbling kisses against her lips. She opened her bleary eyes to find Danny's glassy stare reflected back at her. He kissed her again, more deeply this time. The heady aroma of alcohol rolled off of him in waves and filled her mouth as he kissed her. The disappointing knowledge that he had been drinking definitely concerned her but the contrition reflected in the stormy depths of his eyes was enough to dispel her lingering anger and hurt.

He nuzzled his nose to hers. "I'm sorry," he slurred in sweet penitence, "I didn't mean what I said before. Please don't be mad at me, Lace. Don't leave me. I love you so much, baby."

"I'm not going to leave you, Danny," she reassured him fervidly, shifting a bit so that she could gather his head against her breasts, "We had a fight. That's all." She sifted her fingers lightly through his tousled hair in a soothing, circular caress. "Where did you go drinking tonight?"

"Just some bar across town. Don't worry. I didn't drive. I took a cab home."

"That's not the point. You worked really hard to get sober. Now you have to start all over again."

Danny rolled a desolate glance up at her. "I messed up. I know." He groped for her hand and pressed a drunken kiss to the back of it. "I honestly wasn't trying to shut you out when I didn't tell you about that job," he mumbled in a remorseful tone, "I was just thinking about our plan."

"I believe you," she whispered, "I still wish you had talked to me about it first." She traced the back of his hand with her index finger. "Maybe I'm a little sensitive about it because I know your first instinct is still to shut me out."

"That's not true."

"It is true," she insisted but her tone was free of accusation, "And that's okay. _For now._ That's understandable after everything you've gone through. Trust is a difficult thing to give and I know that you're trying. _But_ ," she added meaningfully in preface, "you can't always be so quick to reject somebody just because you're afraid they're going to reject you," she advised him softly, "You did it to your grandparents tonight and then you did it to me."

"I'm so afraid you guys are going to decide I'm not worth it, Lace," he confessed in a gruff tone, "And if that happens I don't know how I'm going to make it."

She leaned forward to kiss him, tracing the seam of his lips with her tongue sweetly before pulling back to whisper, "That's _not_ going to happen. Your grandparents love you. _I love you_. I'm committed to you. I'm going to say it over and over until you finally believe it."

He pulled her closer for more kisses, his tears mingling with the taste of beer on his tongue as he deepened his exploration of her mouth. "I'm sorry about tonight," he whispered as he rose up on his knees to slip his hands beneath her skirt, "I'm so sorry. Let me make it up to you."

Lacey pressed a restraining hand to the center of his chest when he would have dragged her panties down her hips. "Not this time," she refused him in a firm but gentle tone, "Not like that. You don't get to use sex as a distraction, Danny. You need to deal with what happened tonight. You have to apologize to your grandparents. They didn't deserve how you treated them."

Not surprised by her rejection and fully understanding the reason for it as well, Danny dropped his head forward with a dejected sigh. "I hear what you're saying but...the stuff I said to them tonight..." He shuddered with the memory of how he had reacted. "Lacey, I took every act of kindness they ever showed me and threw it back in their faces," he recounted sadly, "I don't think 'I'm sorry' is going to cover that."


	4. The Art of Teamwork

**The Art of Teamwork**

"That's the last of it."

Archie and Jo shuffled inside Danny and Lacey's newly leased two bedroom apartment with the last box from the moving truck and immediately stopped short when they found Lacey straddled across Danny's lap and the two of them engaged in a nuzzling makeout session on their futon. They were so engrossed in one another that they didn't even immediately register their friends' entrance. Jo coughed out her embarrassment and quickly averted her eyes. Archie, however, just grinned in amusement.

After setting aside the box on a nearby table, he said, "So this is how it's gonna be for the rest of the evening, huh? Jo and I do all the work while you and Lacey have all the fun?"

Finally alerted to the fact that they were no longer alone, Lacey abruptly broke off the kiss with a mortified squeak but when she tried to roll away from Danny, he held her fast. Left with no other choice, she buried her burning face in his shoulder while Danny tipped back his head to regard his two friends with a brazen grin. "It's our apartment and we'll kiss if we want to."

Jo directed a meaningful look around the box cluttered surrounding space and piles of unassembled furniture. "Not going to dispute that," she told him, "But, right now we need to concentrate on making sure you and Lacey can see your floor again before nightfall. _And_ , if you could manage to remove your tongue from Lacey's mouth long enough, we might get some actual work done."

Lacey scooted away from Danny with a mournful sigh. "She's right," she said as she swept a dejected glance around the apartment, "I didn't realize you had accumulated so much stuff in the past few months, Danny. We definitely have our work cut out for us."

Much to Lacey and Danny's everlasting surprise and gratitude, Archie and Jo had shown up unannounced in Newport that morning and had generously volunteered their services in coordinating Danny's move from his apartment in Connecticut back to Green Grove. Their arrival had proved to be a stroke of good fortune. Prior to that, Lacey and Danny had reluctantly resigned themselves to doing all of the packing and heavy lifting on their own. And, with Lacey being pregnant, that meant the most of the responsibility for moving the furniture into the truck would have fallen on Danny alone. On the plus side, he didn't have all that much to transport. On the down side, however, the pieces he did have were rather heavy.

In truth, Danny knew he could have made it easier on himself. His grandfather, uncle and cousins would have gladly volunteered if Danny had given any indication at all that he wanted their help. Unfortunately, following that bitter confrontation with his grandparents, Danny couldn't bring himself to ask them. It wasn't merely because he wasn't entirely in agreement with everything Cam and Mimi had said to him either. Although their rigid stance on his lack of readiness for marriage and tenacious need for him to return to college irritated him, it was truly his own shame and self-loathing regarding his behavior towards them that prompted Danny to keep his distance. He didn't feel he had the right to reach out to them at all.

The unhappy byproduct of that, however, was that Danny's attempt to isolate himself only made the Kincaids more fearful of approaching him. From their standpoint, Danny wanted nothing to do with the family and so that kept them from reaching out to him. Their continued distance then, of course, only fed into Danny's already rampant insecurities and left him convinced that the Kincaids had decided to wash their hands of him after all. It was an unfortunate stalemate for which there seemed to be no solution in sight.

So, when Archie and Jo had come to Newport to help him and without any prompting or request on his part, Danny had been barely been able to contain his appreciation. He hadn't expected their generosity at all but he was left strangely unsurprised by their gesture. With each passing day, Danny was gradually becoming more and more confident that he had made the right decision by letting Archie and Jo back into his life. The trust hadn't been 100% repaired but it was certainly close enough.

Despite their faults and all the countless ways they had all hurt each other, past and present, Danny realized that Jo and Archie were his family. They were some of the very few people on the planet that he could believe would never abandon him no matter how badly he screwed up. That was a priceless gift, Danny realized, and he never wanted to take it for granted again.

With those thoughts in mind, Danny bounced an appreciative smile up at Archie and Jo. "Thank you guys again for all of your help today," he said, "I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't shown up when you did."

Archie settled down onto a nearby barstool. "I'm pretty sure you would have been royally screwed."

"No doubt," Danny agreed.

"I'm surprised your long lost family didn't put in an appearance," Archie considered in a careless tone, "I figured they would have been crawling all over your place since they've seemed pretty involved these last few months."

"Yeah," Jo piped in, "Don't you have several men in your family with big, strong backs? Why weren't they there today helping us lug around furniture. What gives?

"What gives is that Danny didn't ask for their help," Lacey answered primly, "He and his grandparents had a little bit of a falling out and he's not talking to any of them right now."

"Oh no," Jo exclaimed in genuine consternation, "What happened? I thought things were going good for you."

Danny ducked his head in chagrin. "They were. But then I may or may not have acted like a petulant ass when my grandparents confronted me and Lacey about the baby last night and said something things that I can't take back."

Archie regarded Danny with a cocked eyebrow full of skepticism. "You _may_ have been an ass or you _were_ an ass? Because that's two different things."

"Okay, okay! I was _definitely_ an ass!"

"That sounds like the Danny I remember," Archie laughed, "Where you been, buddy?"

"Don't tease him about it," Lacey admonished, "He feels really bad about what happened!"

"Not that it means anything," Danny mumbled self-deprecatingly.

Lacey nudged him with her shoulder and whispered, "It's not too late to fix it. All you have to do is apologize."

"It's not that simple," Danny argued with a shake of his head, "Besides, I still don't agree with what they said about us getting married. We have enough to deal with already without adding their opposition to it too, you know?"

"I guess that means Lacey's mom still isn't on board with the whole marriage thing, huh?" Archie tsked in commiseration. He clucked his tongue in sympathy. "That's gotta be tough, especially with you guys expecting your first kid and all."

Lacey bit her lip and confirmed his observation with a sad nod. "I didn't figure I would be doing the marriage and kid thing for a long time but I thought when I finally did my mother would be around," she muttered forlornly, "So much for that."

Beside her, Danny gave her an apologetic nudge and dropped a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm sorry you're having to deal with all of this. I never imagined it would get so complicated."

"Stop apologizing. _You're_ not the one giving me the silent treatment," she huffed glumly, "Do you know that she didn't even say a single word to me after I packed up my things? Not even goodbye. And when I dropped the car off tonight, all she said was 'good luck' and then she shut the door. It was awful."

"I know it feels like you and your mom are going to be at odds forever but it gets better, Lacey," Jo reassured her, "She'll come around eventually. Mothers always do."

Lacey knew without asking that Jo was sharing the benefit of her own experience, specifically referring to her parents own reaction to the lies she had told concerning her pregnancy. While both her parents had been extremely disappointed to learn the truth, Tess Masterson had found it easier to forgive and support her only daughter in the aftermath. Kyle Masterson, on the other hand, was still struggling to extend his own forgiveness and, as a result, the relationship between him and Jo had grown strained.

That was one of the few tidbits about Jo's life that Lacey had learned while the two of them volunteered together at the hospital. They weren't in the habit of baring their souls to one another by any means but, as a result of working in such close proximity, it was inevitable that they would eventually catch one another in a deeply vulnerable moment from time to time. But despite having spoken cordially on several occasions and even sharing a personal experience or two, the two girls were still a long way from becoming friends. That bitter fact rather disheartened their respective significant others. Lately then, Danny and Archie had been taking it upon themselves to rectify that.

With the mood having grown decidedly somber following such heavy conversation, Danny said to his friends, "Seriously, you guys can go ahead and take off now. Enjoy the rest of your night. Lacey and I can handle it from here. You've done enough."

Jo grunted, "Are you trying to get rid of us, Desai?"

"Not at all. I just don't want you to feel obligated to stay and help."

She and Archie traded a brief glance, easily in agreement with one another even without verbal communication before Jo replied, "It's not obligation, Danny. We want to help. You have us for the night. Tell us what you need."

"Well, the first thing I need to do is return that moving truck," he said, "I don't want to have to pay extra on the deposit for getting it back late."

"I can follow you over to the place in my car," Archie volunteered, "We can pick up a couple of pizzas for dinner on the way back here. I'm starving."

"Cool. Sounds good. Let me grab my wallet and we'll be out."

Lacey frowned over that plan as Danny shifted to his feet to retrieve his car keys and wallet from the fireplace mantle across the room. "So what? You guys are just going to leave me and Jo here to do all the unpacking? How very convenient!"

"We're going to get food. I thought you'd been happy."

"That's not the point. Jo and I will be working while you and Archie are out joy riding."

"It's not a joy ride," Danny denied as he crossed the distance to give her a kiss goodbye in hopes of soothing her grumpiness, "We're taking back the truck and stopping for some food on the way back. We can't all unpack on empty stomachs, now can we?"

Far from mollified, however, Lacey cut a furtive glance in Jo's direction before piercing Danny with a meaningful look. "But you can't leave me alone with _her_ ," she hissed, "You guys could be gone for hours!"

"You volunteer with her twice a week at the hospital for just as long," Danny reasoned in an underbreath, making a mighty effort to hide from Jo that they were talking about her, "How is that any different?"

"That's business. This feels too casual." She made a desperate grab onto his forearm. "Don't leave me."

Danny bent forward to brush a smiling kiss across her lips. "I'm sure you can handle it," he teased her, "You'll be fine." After getting a quick order from Lacey and Jo about what toppings they wanted on their pizza, Archie and Danny prepared to leave. As they exited the apartment together, Danny paused briefly to flash a grin at them and call back over his shoulder, "You girls play nice now."

After they were left standing among the teetering towers of boxes, Jo glowered in their wake and muttered under her breath, "Could they _be_ more obvious?"

"I think they're just determined to make us be friends no matter what," Lacey murmured.

Jo to lurch around to face her with a startled look, surprised that Lacey had even addressed her at all. "I guess they don't realize yet that it's not that simple."

"Well, let's not make this too painful," Lacey determined gruffly, "Why don't you concentrate on the kitchen and I'll stay in here? We can keep out of each other's way with that system."

For the first twenty minutes, the two girls worked in relative silence, with Jo in the kitchen unpacking and Lacey focusing her efforts in the living room. Lacey had hoped that by relegating Jo there, Jo would take it upon herself to place items where she thought they needed to go, thereby limiting the contact between them. Unfortunately, she was wrong. She and Jo were forced into brief conversation again and again because Jo was reluctant to choose any spot for a cup or a plate without Lacey's specific say so first. By the time an hour had passed, both Lacey and Jo were understandably aggravated with each other and more than a little on edge.

Finally, the tension grew to be too much for Lacey. She set aside Danny's prized gaming system and climbed onto to futon to regard Jo with a flat expression, deciding to address the proverbial elephant in the room. "So does it bother you?"

Lacey's sudden and blunt demand immediately stilled Jo's activity. She finished putting away the pot in her hand before she lifted her head to favor Lacey with a wary look. "Does what bother me?"

"The fact that me and Danny are together now," Lacey clarified, "The fact that we're getting married." She paused a bit, caressing her lower abdomen unconsciously as she added in a quiet tone, "That we're going to have a baby."

Jo expelled a woeful sigh. "I've told you a hundred times already that I'm genuinely happy for you both," she said, "I don't have an angle going here. I'm not jealous of you, Lacey! At least not for the reasons you think. You don't have to feel threatened. I don't feel that way about Danny anymore. I don't think that I ever really did."

"I know that. And, for the record, I don't feel threatened by you."

Lacey's quiet, confident admission had Jo darting a stunned glance in her direction. "What...wait? You...you don't?"

"No! Why should I?"

"Then why are you confronting me like this?" Jo demanded in defensive exasperation.

"Because you're still you. I know that you're not in love with Danny and you never have been," Lacey replied, "Not in this life and definitely not in the other one either."

"So then what's your point? I'm not out to take him from you, so why all the hostility?"

"You're possessive of him, Jo, whether you're in love with him or not and you always have been. You think he belongs to you and no one else. That has always been the problem between you and me. You don't know how to share him."

"That's not true," Jo pointed out, "We're sharing him now."

"Right now doesn't count," Lacey argued, "Right now, Danny is learning to trust you again. You still have a long way to go with him before your relationship goes back to the way it was but, you're making progress every day."

"So then what's the problem?"

"The problem _is_ ," Lacey emphasized, "what's going to happen when you reach that point? When you have Danny's trust and respect again, are you going to try and insinuate yourself into our relationship just like you've always done in the past or will you actually let him be happy this time?"

"Did you miss the part where I was dating Archie and we were serious about each other?"

"Again, this isn't about you having romantic designs on Danny," Lacey reiterated mildly, "This is about you thinking you know what he needs better than anyone else."

"I have known him for more than half his life, Lacey," Jo snorted, "Even longer than that if you count our past. As much as it galls you, I _do_ know him better."

"Yes, and because you do, you know exactly how to tap into his insecurities too!"

Jo made a face at her. "Am I supposed to know what you're accusing me of right now, Lacey?" she demanded impatiently.

"I know you're the one who convinced Danny that I could never love him like he loved me."

Guilt immediately flittered across Jo's features with the reminder before she dropped her eyes altogether. "I was only trying to hurt him when I said that," she mumbled, "I had no idea that he would take it to heart like he did."

"Well, he _did_ take it to heart and we deal with the aftermath every, single day. And that's because of _you_ , Jo."

"No, you don't get to put all of that on me!" Jo retorted, "I hold my fair share of blame but I never would have been able to cause any damage at all if the fear hadn't already been there for Danny! And that's something _you_ put there, not _me_!"

Lacey fluttered her hand dismissively. "I didn't start this conversation so that you and I could argue about who had hurt Danny the most!"

"Then why the hell did you start it?"

"I want to be sure that you don't try and put yourself between me and Danny again," Lacey replied in a warning tone, "Because I'm not going to stand for it this time, Jo. I will not hesitate to kick your narrow ass this time around. Trust me."

Jo glared at her a moment, her mouth open as if she were poised for a diatribe in response to all Lacey had said. In the end, however, she merely bit the inside of her cheek and said, "Relax. It won't have to come to that at all. I'll be sure to keep my nose where it belongs."

"So, that's it? You promise and I'm supposed to take your word for it?"

"You know you and I are going to make any kind of progress if you're always suspicious of my motives!" Jo huffed, "For the last time, I do not have a problem with you and Danny being together!"

"You did the last time," Lacey reminded her, "And, until very recently, you did this time too. So, you'll forgive me if I find your sudden turnaround a little suspect, Ankhesenamun."

"Don't call me that!" Jo snapped, "I'm not that woman anymore! Just like you're not some simple village peasant! Who I was in the past does not define who I am now!"

Lacey regarded her with a dubious expression. "You're kidding me, right? Should I list all the parallels between then and now for you?"

"For God's sake, Lacey, the last time there was a kingdom at stake!" Jo flared, "And this time...all I knew for sure was that Danny and I had this unbreakable bond. We had years of friendship and then you came in from out of nowhere and turned everything upside down. _Yes_ , I mistook that for romantic love! And _yes_ , that made me a little crazy for a while _but_ , after my memories came back, I realized why I had felt that connection to Danny all of my life. He's my family, Lacey. All I want is for him to be happy. I want him to have what he lost in that first life."

"You mean what you _took_ from him," Lacey reminded her brusquely.

Jo dropped down onto a barstool and faced Lacey directly with folded arms. "So this is it then? We're finally going to do it, huh?"

"Do what?"

"Talk about that night," Jo clarified gruffly, "Talk about what happened between us when we fought in Tutankhamun's bedroom."

"How could I forget it? You attacked me. You murdered me _and_ my unborn child."

"You were trying to kill me too! If you had managed to get the upper hand that night, this conversation would be completely different and you know it!"

"So what? I was trying to protect myself and my baby! What were _you_ doing? _I'm_ not the one who came after _you_!"

"He was going to make you queen. He was going to cut me out of his life!" Jo cried, "I was in hell. I felt as if everything that had ever mattered to me was slipping away! I was desperate!"

"And that justifies murder, I guess."

"I'm not saying that it does," Jo muttered, "I'm just trying to give you an idea of where my head was. Ka was dead. I had just lost my child, _Ka's_ child...my last link to him. My favorite cousin, _my best friend_ was dead. And Ay was constantly in my ear reminding me of all the things I stood to lose, particularly my place as queen and to you, of all people. This half-breed Mitanni peasant who had usurped my place in my brother's life! I blamed you for everything that had gone wrong."

"So, of course I had to die," Lacey mocked harshly, "What other choice did you have?"

"I'm not the calculating bitch you make me out to be!"

"History tells a different story."

"History says that I lost everything after my brother died and that I never felt safe again. I destroyed one of the most precious things in the world to me with my own two hands. And I had to live with that knowledge for years and years afterward."

"At least you had years and years. _He_ was nineteen. Our child hadn't even begun to live at all!"

"For what it's worth, I regretted what happened with you almost immediately after it was over," Jo confessed in a quiet tone, "When I saw you lying there motionless on the bed, I couldn't believe what I had done. It almost didn't feel real to me. I thought I would feel relief but I felt sick instead. If I could have rewritten those last few minutes between us, I would have."

"Somehow I don't believe you. I was a threat to you. You made that clear to me from the first moment we met. You were never going to tolerate me in his life."

"Because I thought his choosing _you_ meant that he was rejecting _me_. I couldn't separate the two." She dragged both her hands down the length of her face with a weary sigh. "Don't you get it? You were his heart. You were going to have his child. You were going to give him everything I couldn't and that gutted me. But when I attacked you that night, I didn't just kill you. I killed _him_ too."

"Not so much that he couldn't forgive you for what you had done to me."

"Don't do that," Jo muttered gruffly, "Don't turn his compassion towards me into a betrayal against you. He was destroyed after you died. I think that's partly why he died so soon after you. Once he accomplished what he set out to do, he just gave up.

"When he returned to find you dead after what I had done, I broke something inside of him that couldn't be fixed," she continued, "Just because I was allowed to be at his bedside when he was dying, that doesn't mean that he had forgiven me for what happened, Lacey, because he hadn't. He told me so himself."

"It's not like I want him to live in that horrible moment for the rest of his life," Lacey protested.

"But you don't want him to forget it."

"He has always sided with you against me, at least when it really mattered," Lacey replied thickly, "I want him to remember why that's a mistake."

"That is so not true. It's always been you, in _both_ lifetimes. He loves me. I know that. But you're his entire existence. It shouldn't be a competition, Lacey. We can both be in his life."

"You haven't always thought that."

"I've told you. I've grown up. I'm not that same person. At least, I don't want to be. Do you?"

"Sometimes I really want to believe you," Lacey confessed in a muffled tone, "And other times, it feels like a really big mistake. I want to trust you because he wants to trust you but, I can't. Too much badness has happened between us."

"I don't guess I'm surprised that you feel that way. I _did_ kill you after all. _But_ ," she stressed before Lacey could express her agreement on that point, "if Danny and Archie managed to put their complicated history behind them, I think you and I can manage the same thing."

"That's different. They were friends before. Brothers, really. There was a bond already established there. We've never had that kind of connection."

"But we _do_ have a connection," Jo argued, "We have Danny. We both love him, Lacey, and we have loved him in _every_ incarnation. Surely we can find common ground in that."

Lacey was in the middle of putting away her nursing books and still mulling over that possibility when Archie and Danny finally arrived with the pizzas. Danny tentatively poked his head inside of the apartment, as if he half expected to walk into the middle of utter carnage when he did. "Is the coast clear?" he called out, "Everybody alive?"

"Of course," Lacey answered with a dramatic eye roll as he and Archie came scooting through the door, "What did you expect? That we had murdered each other while you were gone?"

Danny set down the pizzas onto the coffee table while Archie did the same with the wings, breadsticks and cola they had purchased for dinner. "It wouldn't be the first time," he replied, straight-faced.

The sarcastic reply Lacey intended was abruptly cut short by Archie's low whistle of astonishment. "Whoa, I'm impressed," he commended after taking a glance around the decidedly less cluttered apartment, "You guys made a lot of headway while we were gone."

Jo came forward to greet him with a kiss and a knowing look. "Wasn't that all part of your plan? To get us to do most of the work while you and Danny slacked?"

"Hey! I'm offended by that accusation. Returning that truck was hard work and mentally draining. That line was long!"

"Super long," Danny emphasized dramatically, "I don't even know how we got out of there alive."

Lacey snorted. "Whatever, you two. As of now, Jo and I are officially off duty," she said, "After we're done eating, the rest of this is all on you two."

"But we brought pizza," Archie protested with a pout, "That hardly seems fair."

After collecting plates, cups and paper towels from the kitchen, the four congregated on the floor around the large chrome and glass coffee table to eat dinner and watch marathon episodes of _Grey's Anatomy_ , since the girls adamantly refused to sit through any tedious sports programs. For the most part, the guys took glee in reveling in the gorier, bloodier aspects of the medical drama while the girls spent their time pointing out the medical improbability of it all. Once dinner was done, Danny and Archie dutifully cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher without being asked, reluctant to disturb the unbelievable reality that their girlfriends were seated side by side on the floor, watching television together.

"You think they're finally starting to turn a corner?" Archie whispered to his friend as they finished up together in the kitchen.

Danny watched in amazement as Lacey and Jo laughed together, actually _laughed,_ and the sight filled his heart to the brim with happiness and contentment. "God, I hope so."

True to their word, Lacey and Jo remained parked on the futon for the remainder of the night watching television while Archie and Danny finished unpacking and also assembling furniture. It was close to midnight by the time they had finished with everything and yet, despite the late hour, the four were reluctant to call it a night. Half exhausted, they sprawled together in various positions in the living room, mulling over what they should do next.

"We could watch a movie," Lacey suggested with a marked lack of enthusiasm.

"We looked already, remember? Nothing's on," Jo replied, just as lackluster.

"We could play _Call of Duty_ ," Archie volunteered next.

Jo tipped an ironic glance up at him. "That's fun for you, babe, but not so fun for me."

"What about cards?" Danny considered aloud, "We could play _Uno_."

"No!" Lacey, Archie and Jo all cried simultaneously and with equal vehemence.

Danny blinked at them in wide-eyed innocence. "What? Why? What's wrong with _Uno_?"

"There's nothing wrong with the game," Lacey replied, " _You're_ the problem, Danny."

"Why am I the problem?"

"Because you're cutthroat, that's why," Archie told him, "It's not enough for you to win. You have to grind your opponent into dust while you're at it. That's why no one likes to play with you."

"Sounds like sour grapes to me. Hey, don't hate the player. Hate the game. Can I help it if I'm skilled?"

"More like you're insufferable," Jo countered dryly, "You don't win with any sort of grace."

Danny batted his lashes at her. "Perhaps the problem is that you don't _lose_ with grace, Jo Marie. Look within." For that, he was rewarded with a face full of throw pillow. "I'm just saying."

Lacey abruptly lurched upright as an idea suddenly occurred to her. "Oh, I know what we can play," she declared, hopping from the futon and sprinting back towards her and Danny's bedroom. She returned with a red game box with blue-green lettering squiggled across the top. She set it down onto the coffee table with a triumphant smile. "Let's do this."

Jo leaned over to read the title with a curious frown. " _Quelf_? What the hell is _Quelf_?"

"Exactly what it says on the box," Lacey replied, "An 'unpredictable party game where you must _obey the card_.'"

"Why does that sound ominous?" Archie asked with a mock shudder.

Danny shook his head in vexation. "You don't even want to know."

"We played this game with Danny's family once," Lacey told him, "It was freaking hilarious! I had to go right out and buy it afterwards but Danny and I haven't been able to play it since because we didn't have enough people. But now that you're here..."

"Don't fall for it. It's a trap," Danny warned them dryly, "Trust me. You do _not_ want to play this game."

"Trust _me_ ," Lacey countered, "You _do_ want to play and you'll want to videotape it too."

Intrigued by that caveat rather than put off, Archie scooted forward with a wide smile. "Oh, this is going to be fun. How do we get started?"

For the next few hours the four of them found themselves embroiled in a board game that was the epitome of ridiculous. With each turn of the card, they were subsequently relegated to having to complete such strange tasks as: winking while touching their thumb to their foreheads, tying belts around their foreheads ninja style, balancing books on their heads while walking backwards 20 feet, and keeping one hand submerged in a bowl of water during the entirety of the game and even, at times, being prohibited from the use of their arms at all. The execution often produced uncomfortable, ludicrous but always entertaining results.

Sometimes, depending on the card, they were obligated to sing songs, act out quizzical scenes or perform soliloquies that made them look and sound like complete lunatics. It was at that point that the cell phones came out to capture those mortifying moments for posterity. Threats of posts to youtube abounded. And, when they weren't engaging in those outlandish feats or simply making outright fools of themselves, they were answering such questions as: "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" and "How many fingers does a one-armed and thumbless woman have?" or they had to figure out which country ate the most macaroni and cheese per capita (because, really, who the hell knew that?).

The game definitely had no rhyme or reason. It was designed simply for the sole purpose of making the player look and feel like a fool. Yet, it was probably the most fun any of them had enjoyed in quite some time. Lacey had been absolutely right. The game was "freaking hilarious" and the four of them spent almost the whole game crying with laughter. By the time Archie and Jo finally left, it was quickly approaching three the morning but no one seemed tired despite the lateness of the hour and everyone was smiling when they said their goodbyes.

Danny closed the door behind Archie and Jo and leaned back against it with a lascivious smile. He bobbed his eyebrows at Lacey. "Alone at last. Whatever shall we do, Ms. Porter?"

"Oh come off of it," Lacey laughed as he dove back into the empty space beside her on the futon, "You loved having them here tonight and you know it."

After shifting around so that his back was against the armrest of the futon and then pulling Lacey against him, Danny expelled a contented sigh. "You're right," he agreed, "It was great having them here, like old times only better."

"I don't think I've ever seen you laugh that much in the entire time I've known you," she said, smiling, "It was nice."

"It _felt_ nice." They snuggled together in comfortable silence, simply enjoying one another's warmth and proximity when Danny remarked in a tone that was far too casual to be genuine, "So...you and Jo looked like you were getting along better."

Lacey groaned aloud at his obviousness. "You're not nearly as clever as you think you are, Desai. I was on to you from the start."

"But did it work?"

She hated to crush the burgeoning optimism she detected in his tone but she also couldn't feed him false hope either. "Danny, Jo and I are never going to be best friends. You know that, right? There's too much history there."

"I'd settle for you just being 'friendly' at this point," he countered wryly.

"We _are_ friendly!"

"Sorry. I should have been more specific. I meant friendly without the frosty undertones to go with it."

"Well now you're just pushing it," Lacey teased. She waited until his answering laughter had passed before she said, "All I can do is promise to make an effort with her. Is that good enough?"

Danny smacked a sound kiss to her shoulder. "That's perfect." They once again settled into an amiable silence. Lacey snuggled deeper into the circle of Danny's arms, dangerously close to dozing off when she heard him murmur, "I can't believe we actually live together now."

With her eyes still closed, Lacey smiled. "That's right. Neither of us ever has to leave the other again...well, except for school and work," she whispered in a mixture of awe and excitement, "It's just me and you now. I can't wait to build our life here together."

Humming his agreement with that, Danny swept up her hand and laced his fingers with hers. "Me either. This is our kingdom, babe." He paused to swing a contemplative glance around at the tiny space they had leased for the next year, the place where they would eventually raise their child. "It's not much to look at but it's ours."

"I don't care how small it is," Lacey murmured, "I love it regardless."

She felt Danny smile against her temple, his breath stirring warmly against her skin. His slender fingers feathered lightly across the bare flesh of her arms in seductive caresses. "Hey?" he whispered, "You know what we should do?"

Sensing the wicked edge in his tone, Lacey cracked open one sleepy eye. "Go to bed? Cause if so, I'm game. It _is_ three in the morning, you know."

"I was thinking we could do something a little more fun and with a lot less clothing." He nipped suggestively at her ear, his tongue darting warmly against the sensitive rim. "We should christen our bed tonight."

Lacey half laughed, half moaned as his nibbling caresses became more intense and began to meander down the curve of her neck. "I...I think that bed has been...christened plenty...already..." she managed in between throaty moans of pleasure.

"That doesn't count. It was just _my_ bed then. Now it's _our_ bed. Therefore a new christening is called for." He nudged at her backside with his growing arousal. "Purely for ceremonial purposes, of course."

She angled a smile up at him. "You're painfully transparent, you know that?"

"Is it really that obvious?"

"Kinda."

He kissed her tenderly. "Fine. I'll just come right out and ask then," he said as Lacey shifted around in his arms. "Do you think I could take you to bed now?"

In answer, Lacey slipped from his lap and stood, her eyes half mast with sultry invitation when she held out her hand to him. "Well, come on, Desai. What are you waiting for?"


	5. You're In My Bubble

**A/N: I just wanted to remind everyone that this story is rated M for language and sexual content. It's not going to dominate this story by any means but it will be there on occasion. If that's not your thing, you may want to bow out of this part.  
**

* * *

 **You're In My Bubble**

Danny shuffled into the bathroom to brush his teeth and discovered that he couldn't immediately locate his toothbrush. He scrubbed at his eyes, thinking at first that he was missing it but clearing away the crusts of sleep did little to improve the situation. He knew it had to be somewhere on the bathroom counter but it was difficult to find among the clutter of Lacey's hair products, flat iron, make-up and toiletry items. There wasn't a single inch of the counter that wasn't covered. Danny sifted through the wreckage with a growing frown as he tried to pinpoint the exact moment when his bathroom stopped being his.

He thought he was pretty used to sharing his space with Lacey. After all, they had been practically living with each other for the past three months when she visited his place over the weekend. He had only had one bathroom then, which had forced them to work in tandem when it came to going through their morning routine. However, back then, there hadn't been much of anything. A flat iron on occasion, moisturizer, an eyeliner pencil here and there. Her deodorant. Her toothbrush. Usually there in the morning to magically disappear by the afternoon.

It had been an amenable situation for a guy whose bathroom counter housed only the sparsest of items. His toothbrush, toothpaste and mouthwash, deodorant, lotion, a razor, a bar of soap near the sink and a sleeve of Dixie cups. That was it. Minimalist at its best. And then Lacey moved in and made her mark.

They hadn't lived with each other a complete day before she was insisting on a toothbrush holder and a soap dish. Danny liked to think that he was a laidback guy so he easily rolled with the changes and they kept coming too. Decorative towels. Scented potpourri. Fancy bathmats. All things that he couldn't be bothered with before but for which Lacey was insistent. And that was okay. He wanted to make her to be happy and making the bathroom pretty made her happy so Danny gladly stepped aside and let her do what she wanted.

But gradually, over the course of the past three weeks, he had begun to feel as if he were being edged out of the bathroom entirely. More and more of Lacey's things began to surface on the counter and in the drawers and less and less of his things could be found.

At first, Danny considered the possibility that he was being a little paranoid. After all, Lacey had been just as excited about moving in with him as he had been to live with her. He highly doubted that she was intentionally trying to push him aside or drive him out of the bedroom. Still, it was difficult not to feel that way when his bathroom was no longer his own and his closet space continued to shrink in small increments by the day.

Lacey had _a lot_ of clothes but that was nothing in comparison to her shoe collection. _That_ couldn't be described as anything other than massive. He had always appreciated the way she dressed and how fashionable she always seemed but now he knew firsthand how those perfect styles were achieved and it wasn't so pretty. They had been fortunate enough to land an apartment with a generous walk in closet but most of it had been dedicated to Lacey's stuff. If they continued on their current track, he would be forced to using the spare bedroom closet if he wanted a prayer of finding anything. God help him if she decided to go shopping for anything else.

Annoyed presently by it all, Danny sifted through the contents on the counter for his toothbrush, mentally cursing to himself because he needed to be out the door in twenty minutes if he wanted to make it to work on time. After a few minutes of searching, Danny found what he needed and did a quick brush and rinse before stripping naked to hop into the shower. He whipped back the shower curtain to discover a yellow sticky noted pasted against the tile.

 _Don't forget to rinse out the tub when you're done. Love you. -Lacey._

Danny snatched the note from the wall with a mildly aggravated grunt. That was another thing she did that drove him up the freaking wall. She was always leaving little reminder notes around the apartment for him, like he was five years old and didn't know how to pick up after himself. He didn't need a reminder to run the dishwasher or throw in a wash _or_ to rinse out the bathtub. He did all of those things on his own. They might not have been on Lacey's timetable but he _did_ do them.

By the time Danny stepped under the spray, however, and the warm water began to seep into his pores and sluice over his body, he felt much of his annoyance with Lacey wan only to be replaced by desire instead. It was difficult not to let his mind wander to how they had spent the previous night naked and sweaty and straining together while he lathered himself and washed his hair. Lacey drove him crazy, to be sure, but he still missed her immeasurably in the mornings. Waking up in bed without her was never fun and it always invariably put him in a bad mood.

Because she had insisted on returning her car to her mother in a defiant show of independence, Lacey had been forced to use public transit to get back and forth to school. It would have been ideal to let her drive his car but he had to be at work an hour after she started class and his job was half an hour away. Lacey had proudly rejected the idea of him dropping her off in the morning because she wanted to prove to her mother and herself that she could make her own way. Therefore, the only solution that had been left to them required Lacey rising early in the morning to get ready so that she could catch the bus to school. Danny quite hated the arrangement but he tried to respect Lacey's feelings about it.

Lately, she had grown a wild hair about proving to her mother that she wasn't a child anymore. Danny supposed he understood her feelings on the matter. He knew all too well how difficult it was to depend on another person but his struggles with that mainly stemmed from his fears of being disappointed and abandoned. Lacey, however, was being stubborn just to prove a point. She wanted Judy Porter to know that she wasn't the helpless, dependent child that she had been made out to be and if that meant she had to learn to read a bus schedule then, by God, she would learn!

Danny admired her determination even while he was constantly exasperated by it. He was coming to realize that his beautiful fiancée was a charming mix of contradictions and idiosyncrasies. Every day he was finding out something about her that he hadn't known before. Sometimes the discoveries made him smile and at other times they made him face palm but _always_ they seemed to make him love her more than he already did.

By the time Danny exited the shower, he was in much better spirits than when he went in and was actually smiling. That smile didn't wane either, not even when he couldn't readily find his work uniform because it had been squished into the far corner of the closet. Because he was running so late after spending most of his morning trying to locate his belongings, Danny had no time to prepare the bowl of cereal that he had intended to eat for breakfast. He quickly grabbed one of Lacey's granola bars from the cupboard, snatched up his car keys and headed out for work.

Unfortunately, he didn't leave the apartment in the tidiest of states when he did and, when Lacey returned home from school four hours later, she was in no mood to discover the chaos that Danny had left behind in his wake. She'd had a rough start to her day and it wasn't getting any better. She had been late for her first class, had missed several portions of her second class due to her demanding need to pee every ten minutes and had thrown up right in the middle of her last class. To cap all of that off, her feet had begun to swell in her shoes and her lower back was aching. In short, her day had been hell and, by the time she returned home, Lacey wanted nothing more than to kick off her shoes and enjoy a cold glass of milk and a granola bar.

She let herself into the apartment with a weary grunt, dropped her backpack on the floor and made an immediate beeline for the guest bathroom because her bladder was poised for explosion. As a result, she didn't immediately register anything amiss in the apartment because she was too preoccupied with relieving herself. It was only after she exited the bathroom that Lacey's annoyance began to bloom.

After returning to the living room to retrieve her backpack and situate her books onto the coffee table for a planned study session, Lacey then when into the kitchen to fix herself a snack. There she discovered that the sink still housed dirty dishes from the night before and that her sticky note to Danny reminding him to load the dishwasher before he left for work had been summarily ignored.

"Damn it, Danny. Really?," she muttered to herself as she personally tersely took on the task, "You couldn't be bothered? It takes two minutes!"

Lacey grumbled the entire time. Honestly, she just didn't understand what the problem was. She imagined she had been more than fair in expecting him to load the dishwasher since _she_ had been the one empty it of clean dishes that morning and put them away. It was quid pro quo after all and it was a system that had worked well for her and her sister when they had been growing up. Danny, on the other hand, Lacey realized, hadn't been afforded with the benefit of her same experience. He had grown up an only child and an isolated and fairly self-reliant one at that. He wasn't accustomed to sharing his space with another person and, for that reason, Lacey made allowances for him.

While it would have been far too easy to become aggravated with him over his lackadaisical attitude towards household chores, Lacey tried to keep in mind that he was on a learning curve. So, she made an effort to provide him with gentle reminders rather than nagging him. She arranged it so that cleaning items were readily accessible to him in both the kitchen and the bathrooms so he wouldn't be forced to hunt all over the apartment for what he needed. She had even taken it upon herself to create a laundry schedule so he would know what he had to do and when he had to do it. Truthfully, she didn't really understand the necessity for that last thing because it seemed to her that Danny had always been pretty diligent about doing laundry when he lived alone.

However, in spite of all Lacey's helpful tactics and patience, Danny staunchly ignored all of her efforts to maintain a smoothly running household. Sometimes she even got the impression that he resented her efforts, which was completely ridiculous and unfair in Lacey's opinion. She was trying to help him after all. Quite frankly, his careless attitude towards the situation was beginning to get on her nerves. He could be a thoughtful and wonderful fiancé most of the time but Danny still had a lot to learn about working as a team.

Deciding that she would open the topic up for discussion when he returned from work that evening, Lacey decided not to stress about it until then. Instead, she mentally inventoried what she needed to focus on for her study session that day while she poured herself some milk. However, when she went to grab a granola bar from the cupboard, her exasperation and anger invariably resurged when she realized that not only had Danny taken her very last bar but that he had left behind the empty box, lending to the deceptive assumption that there might be more. Frustrated, Lacey tossed the container into the trash with a disgusted grunt. Her irritation only increased when she couldn't find a suitable snack to replace it.

What aggravated her most of all, however, was the knowledge that Danny didn't even _like_ granola! He was constantly griping to her about all of the "health shit" she brought into the apartment and had made it clear to her on more than one occasion that he wasn't interested in any of "nuts and berries" of which she was so fond. So the fact that he had eaten her last freaking granola bar when his own sugary cereals and Poptarts had been left untouched really burned her.

Grumbling under her breath about that as well, Lacey stomped off for the bedroom with some half-formed plan of stripping out of her clothes and throwing on something more comfortable. She hoped that changing would help to soothe her frazzled mood but she was wrong. Her tension fairly soared off the charts as she was brought up short by the ghastly state of her bedroom.

Lacey stumbled into the chaotic mess, her mouth hanging open in shock. "What the hell happened in here...?" It looked as if a clothing bomb had detonated right in the center of her room. Shirts, shoes and pants were scattered all across the floor with a concentration strewn over the unmade bed. Various dresser drawers were still open with clothes spilling out of them. Even the overhead light had been left on. For Lacey, that was the final straw.

Fuming, she stalked back into the living room to snatch up her cell phone. She was so angry that she gave no thought to the impracticality of calling Danny in the middle of a work day when she dialed the number to Grady's Hardware store. She was too focused on giving him an unedited piece of her mind. It took several rings before her call was answered and when it was, Danny was the one to respond. His professional work tone sounded in her ears, far different from his usual inflection.

"Thank you for choosing Grady's Hardware. This is Daniel. How may I help you?"

"Oh, so you're 'Daniel' now," Lacey remarked sardonically, "That's new."

"Lacey?" To his credit, Danny recovered from his shock with relative ease. "Hey, babe. What's up?"

"I was hoping _you_ could tell me. Our bedroom is a disaster. What the hell happened?"

"Oh, I can explain that," he replied, although it was clear that he was distracted and not nearly as dismayed over the situation as Lacey, "Do you think we can talk about it when I get home? I'm kinda in the middle of something here."

"Danny, it looks like the closet exploded!"

"I'll clean up when I get home. No big deal."

"Actually, it is-,"

"I'll talk to you later, okay," he told her before abruptly disconnecting the call.

Lacey blinked at her phone in sputtering disbelief, unable to process his sheer audacity at having hung up on her. At that point, Lacey went into full orbit. She could practically feel the steam seeping from her ears. Unable to leave her bedroom in such sorry shambles even on principal, Lacey dutifully put away clothes and made the bed but she was seething with rage the entire time. The more she stewed over what she perceived to be Danny's lack of personal regard for her, the angrier she became. She couldn't even manage to study effectively because she was too pissed off at him to concentrate. That was the dangerous emotional minefield Danny unknowingly stepped into when he returned home from work five hours later.

He knew something was amiss almost the instant he came through the front door. The apartment was eerily silent despite the fact Lacey was seated in the living room on the futon studying just like usual. It didn't escape Danny's attention, however, that she didn't immediately come bounding over to welcome him home when he stepped inside. Nor was he greeted by the mouthwatering aroma of a freshly prepared dinner either, which was odd because it was Lacey's night to cook and she was typically very industrious about that sort of thing. He closed the door behind him and Lacey didn't even glance up from the textbook in her lap. It was yet another indication to him that something was severely off.

"Hey," he greeted with a heavy degree of caution.

"Hey." Her response was lackluster and laconic and she still didn't look at him.

Danny glanced over to the where the kitchen was dark, quiet and cold. "You're not making dinner tonight?" he ventured.

"Nope," she replied, still not looking at him.

He shifted his weight uneasily, her short answers only heightening his anxious confusion. "So...um...then what are we doing?"

"I don't know what _you're_ doing," Lacey clipped in a pointed tone, "But _I'm_ having orange chicken and fried rice." She nodded to the open takeout container on the coffee table. "So, I'm good."

"You ordered Chinese."

It was more a statement of surprise and confusion than an actual query. And, although Danny didn't voice aloud the question, "What about me?" it was definitely implied in way he had phrased his statement and Lacey knew it. She shrugged. "I'm sure you'll figure something out," she said, offhand, "Since in this household it's obviously 'every man for himself.'"

Danny narrowed his eyes in pensive confusion at her clipped tone as he tentatively closed the distance between them. "Are you pissed off at me about something?" he asked in a careful tone.

For the first time since he arrived home, Lacey looked at him and her expression was nothing less than irate. "What do you think?"

"If this is about when you called me at work," he began mildly, "You have to know that I had a line full of customers right then, Lacey. I couldn't talk to you."

She flung aside her textbook with an angry scowl. "That's not the point!"

"Then what is the point?"

"The point is I'm not your mother!" she fired angrily, suddenly whipping to her feet in a righteous frenzy, "And I'm not your maid! It's not my job to pick up after you, Danny! You're a grown ass man!"

"Did I _ask_ you to pick up after me?" he retorted defensively.

"Who the hell do you think is going to do it when you leave your crap all over the bedroom floor?" she flared, "Or who do you think is going to make the bed when you get up and leave it looking like shit? _Or_ do a wash when you leave piles and piles of dirty laundry sitting there for days on end?"

"It's not like I won't get around to it eventually! I told you I would do it! You're just too damned impatient!"

"Forgive me if I have a problem with living in squalor while you decide on your perfect moment to clean!" she retorted with dripping sarcasm, "I live here too, Danny! We share the same space now! You have to think about someone besides yourself for a change! Have a little courtesy, for crying out loud!"

"You're going to lecture me about courtesy?" Danny bleated in disbelief, "Seriously? The reason why all of my stuff is everywhere is because I can never find anything! I can't even find my fucking _toothbrush_ in the morning because all of your girl shit is thrown all over the bathroom!"

"I don't seem to remember you complaining about my 'girl shit' when you're talking about how beautiful I am and how sexy I am," Lacey reminded him tartly, "It doesn't happen by osmosis, Danny!"

"I'm not saying that you have to get rid of it! All I'm asking for is a tiny corner, Lacey, just a little space in my own bathroom!" he cried in frustration, "Is that too much to expect?"

"Well, if you wanted space, maybe you shouldn't have asked me to marry you!" Lacey flung back at him in a rage.

Danny jerked to attention with a wounded intake of breath. "Come on. That's not fair," he admonished her softly, "You know that's not what I'm saying."

The genuine hurt she detected in his tone, as well as the fact that on some level she recognized the truth in his soft accusation went a long way towards diffusing Lacey's anger. She slumped forward with a small sound of remorse, abruptly devoid of all her righteous indignation. "I know," she mumbled softly, "I'm sorry. I know I wasn't fair just now. But you were yelling at me and I guess that made me mad."

"You yelled at me first," he pointed out with equal softness. The absurdity of the moment hit the both at the same time and when Lacey lifted her head to regard Danny with a small, chagrined smile, he asked in a humble tone, "Do you think we could start this conversation over again?"

"Sure. I'd like that," Lacey sighed in concession, reaching up to massage her throbbing temples, "I'm sorry... _again_. I shouldn't have attacked you like that."

"You were frustrated and I get that," Danny acknowledged, "It probably didn't help to come home and find the place a wreck. I'm sorry about that. I was in a rush this morning and I didn't have time to straighten up."

"It's not just that," Lacey argued, "Yeah, you could be a little more diligent with the chores around here and I definitely feel like you've been slacking off since we moved in together, _especially_ with the laundry but... I've just had a really bad day today and I guess I took that out on you."

Danny opened his arms to her in unreserved invitation. "You wanna tell me about it?"

Lacey shuffled into his embrace with a grateful whimper. "I hate taking the bus." Danny swallowed back is surprised spurt of laughter and wisely refrained from reminding Lacey that was something _she_ had insisted upon. Instead, he kept silent and waited for her to finish her train of thought. "It's crowded and it smells funny and it's always full of weirdos."

"You don't have to deal with that, you know. I told you that I wouldn't mind dropping you off in the mornings."

"But I didn't want you to have to drive me or spend your time worrying about how I was going to get back home if you did," she mumbled glumly, "I wanted to prove to you and to my mom and, most of all, myself that I could do it, that I'm not the helpless baby she thinks I am. I wanted to prove to her that I can do this and that I can succeed."

"You can."

"I don't know if I can, Danny! I can't even manage to make it to class on time!"

Danny blinked at her in astonishment. He was well aware of how time regimented Lacey could be. In her opinion, if she wasn't early then she wasn't on time. The word "late" was not even in her vocabulary. "Really? You were late?"

"I wasn't just late. I was unprepared too. I completely forgot my textbook for class. I had to sit there the whole time with nothing, looking like a complete idiot while everyone else followed along in their books. It was horrible."

"Oh, Lace..."

"It's like this pregnancy is eating my brain or something!" she lamented, "I'm so forgetful lately! I've already been late with two of my assignments because I confused the deadlines. The other afternoon I burned a grilled cheese sandwich because I forgot I left it on the stove. I can't even complete simple tasks anymore! I'd probably lose my ever expanding ass too if it didn't follow me wherever I went!"

Once again, Danny recognized the wisdom in holding back his laughter though he dearly wanted to chuckle hard in that moment. "Oh my poor Lacey," he crooned after several, soothing kisses, "You have had a sucky day."

"Try a sucky week."

Checking the impulse to laugh once again, Danny put on his most dutiful boyfriend expression and said with a knowing sigh, "And all you wanted today was probably to come home and relax after all of that but you only ended up more stressed out, huh?"

"Exactly," she confirmed dolefully.

"I didn't mean to do that to you. I want to make things easier for you, not harder. I'll be better about pulling my weight. I promise," he vowed sincerely, "The last thing I want to do is stress you out, Lacey."

"I hold my share of the responsibility too," she admitted in a mumble, "I guess I have kind of taken over the bathroom lately and my wardrobe might be a little big..."

Danny balked at that description, his forehead creased in a dubious frown. "A little?"

Lacey slapped his shoulder in affront. "I'm trying to meet you halfway here!"

"Go ahead."

"I guess I could get rid of a few pairs of shoes, maybe a couple of outfits," she offered with great reluctance, " _if_ that's what you want." She blinked up at him with a crestfallen pout.

"Well, not if you're going to look at me like I kicked your dog," Danny grumbled in mild sarcasm.

"Okay, okay! I guess if you're willing to do a wash more than once every two weeks, I can stand to part with a couple of outfits."

She shrugged out of his arms then and stumbled forward a few steps to flop down onto the futon once more. She tipped her head back with a deeply fatigued sigh. Danny shoved his hands into his pockets and stared down at her with a concerned frown. "Lace, I don't want you to do it if you're going to be miserable about it."

"It's not that." She frowned to herself in afterthought and shot him an ironic, sideways glance. "Well, it is that a little bit but really I'm just so tired and grumpy all of the time now. I _hate_ being pregnant." She ticked off on her fingers the many ways her condition was making her feel generally wretched. "I'm always sick. I'm breaking out. I'm losing my waistline. I can't even fit into my favorite shoes because my feet are swelling! I feel fat and greasy and bloated and none of that is the least bit sexy!" She covered her face with her hands. "I don't know how you can bear to look at me. I'm hideous."

Danny went to kneel before her and gently tugged away her hands. "Will you stop being dramatic?"

"I'm not being dramatic," she maintained with a stubborn pout, "I'm fat and I'm ugly and I'm turning into an airhead! It feels like nothing is going right for me and, if that isn't bad enough, you ate my last granola bar! How could you do that, Danny? Don't you know you can't eat a pregnant woman's last granola bar?" she finished in a plaintive wail, "It was all I had left!" At that point Danny couldn't fight it any longer. He dissolved guffaws of laughter so hearty that Lacey was compelled to hit him in the face with a pillow. "Stop laughing at me! It's not funny!"

"Yes, it is..." he managed between bursts of mirth, "I'm sorry. I can't help it because I don't know where all of this is coming from. Lacey, you're one of the most gorgeous women I've ever known! And pregnant? You're indescribable. Now I know what they mean when they talk about the pregnancy glow. That's _you_. You actually glow."

She leveled him with a stony glare. "You are so full of crap, Danny Desai." She tried to scoot off the futon then and walk away from him but Danny wouldn't let her.

"Lacey, look at me," he entreated, lifting his hands to frame her face when she wouldn't immediately comply with his tender request, "I'm being completely serious. You're not ugly and you're not fat. You're pregnant. _You're beautiful._ I love the way your body is changing. I think it's fascinating and even a little miraculous."

"Hoo...rah."

"I think it's sexy," he insisted, undaunted by her marked lack of enthusiasm, "And, for the record, that has nothing to do with all that crap you have spread all over the bathroom. Moisturizers and makeup aren't what makes you sexy to me." He shifted his hand to brush his fingers lightly across her temple. "Your mind is sexy." He drew his fingers down to her plump, trembling lips. "These are sexy." He further traced a feather-light path over the stubborn ridge of her chin down the delicate column of her throat and murmured, "And _this_ is sexy," before leaning in to nibble at the delicate skin beneath her chin.

At first, Lacey was rather tepid about responding to his attempts to seduce her because she was still feeling very much unattractive. However, Danny was all too familiar with how she liked to be touched and kissed and it didn't take long before she became receptive to his efforts. By the time he nipped his way back to her mouth, she was more than ready to receive his kiss and part her lips for the tantalizing invasion of his tongue.

Danny slid his hands beneath Lacey and cradled her bottom to bring her closer to him, so that he could fit into the space she provided for him between her legs. Breaking their languid kiss for only a moment, Danny fluidly inched Lacey's sweatshirt up and over her head and then did the same with his own shirt. When they were skin to skin, he kissed her again, his nimble fingers falling to the metal clasp holding her bra in place. Once that was removed, he eagerly trailed wet, warm kisses down her heaving torso, bathing the sensitized peaks of her breasts with the tip of his tongue.

Lacey tangled her hands in his messy hair, moaning her approval as he pressed her back into the firm cushions of the futon. Desire pulsed between them but Danny ignored the consistent throb in his groin. He didn't want to rush the moment between them. Quick and frantic, as much as he loved it, was not what Lacey needed right then. He didn't want her to have a single doubt about how much he wanted her. So, he took his time tasting and touching her skin, his desire for her heightened each time Lacey arched beneath him and gasped his name.

He felt her stiffen slightly when his lips began to coast over the slight swell of her belly but Danny soothed her unease by slipping his fingers into her panties to gently stroke her swollen folds. He pressed several, fervent kisses to her tiny baby bump. "I love this. I love that we're having a baby," he whispered against her skin as his fingers sank inside of her again and again, "And I love you."

By the time Danny finally removed her sweatpants and underwear and then stood to wiggle out of his own trousers, Lacey was fairly trembling with need for him. They came together in another deep kiss, their hips rolling in tandem together. She was surprised but not disappointed when, instead of thrusting inside her right then and there, Danny nudged her onto all fours instead and entered her from behind. The moment he filled her completely caused them both to gasp aloud.

Danny framed her hips in his hands, rocking inside of her in a smooth, fluid rhythm, his breath coming in short, quick pants as he watched himself disappear into her silky depths over and over. He loved having her this way, loved the way he could stroke inside her unencumbered, how he could send himself deeper and deeper. It was incredible. But he also knew that Lacey sometimes had trouble reaching an orgasm in that same position.

She needed the added pressure he created against her clit as well as the delicious, sliding friction he created inside of her to get off. That was the very reason why, when she slipped her hand between her legs to produce the sensation she needed, rubbing herself in slow, tantalizing circles as he pounded inside of her, Danny knew he wasn't going to last long. And that was _before_ her short cries of pleasure began to reach his ears.

His thrusts inevitably became shallow and quick, losing the cadenced coordination he'd had when he started. Their hips slapped together in rising urgency. He bit out a searing curse under his breath as the pressure in his groin steadily mounted. He could feel the tingling pleasure of his impending release. His fingers tightened reflexively around her hips. "Please...please..." he ground out in a breathless gasp, "...tell me you're close..."

No sooner had he asked the question than he felt Lacey begin to contract and tighten around him, her twitching muscles coaxing him deeper. She emitted a series of whimpering moans before consuming his rigid length in the warm, wet rush of her orgasm. Danny followed her a split second later, his fingers biting into the supple flesh of her ass as he rode out each bursting current of his own climax. When it was over, their watery limbs gave out from beneath them and they collapsed back into the cushions together, panting heavily.

When her breathing finally evened out enough, Lacey shifted so that she could wrap her arms around Danny and tuck her face into the moist crook of his throat. She listened to the steady thump of his heart, beating in time with her own as the last remnants of her horrible day were washed away in the calm afterglow of their lovemaking. She could have easily fallen asleep right then and there and might very well have done so if Danny's stomach hadn't chosen that particular moment to growl obnoxiously.

He offered her a sheepish smile before hiding his face in her shoulder. "Sorry. Guess I'm a little hungry."

Lacey generously gifted him the lukewarm remains of her orange chicken and after he had finished wolfing it down, they retired to the bedroom together. Lying there in the dark with Lacey snuggled at his side, her cheek pillowed against his bare chest, Danny couldn't fall asleep. He couldn't stop grinning. He was too intensely happy because, right then, he had everything in the world that he could possibly want.

"So that was makeup sex, huh?" he pondered thoughtfully in the darkness, "I gotta say, I approve. It almost makes the fighting worth it."

He felt Lacey smile against his chest. "Speak for yourself," she mumbled, "I hate fighting with you, Danny. I don't care how good the sex is afterwards."

"Well, there's no rule that says we can't have great sex _without_ the fighting."

She tipped a wry glance up at him. "Which is pretty much what we do anyway, so _I_ approve."

He emitted a low chuckle at that, lazily twirling his finger in the wild strands of her hair. "Tonight was really incredible, you know. How can you think that you're anything other than sexy to me when it's like that between us?" he wondered with an edge of incredulity in his tone, "Don't you get how much I want you...how much you turn me on?"

Lacey tensed a bit at the question. "I can't help it. I don't _feel_ very sexy lately."

Her softly muttered admission had Danny scooting onto his side so that they were lying face to face. "Do you really hate being pregnant?"

The disappointment in his tone was palpable and caused Lacey to guiltily avert her eyes at his question. She responded with a noncommittal shrug. "It's different. I guess I feel like my body isn't my own anymore," she confessed in a gruff tone, "I look in the mirror and I don't even recognize the person staring back at me. I don't see _me_ at all."

"What do you see?"

"A hormonal basket case with terrible acne who can no longer fit into her clothes."

Danny choked out a short, stunned chuckle at her brutal summation of herself. "Well, do you want to know what I see?" he countered softly.

There was something mesmerizing about his tone when he asked the question, something that compelled her to smile despite her reply to him. "I'm sure your opinion is going to be way biased, but go ahead," she invited gamely, "Tell me what you see."

"I see the mother of my child. I see the love of my life and my future wife. I see the fantasy that drives my wet dreams. You're everything, Lacey."

Though she was moved by his poetic declarations, Lacey covered the emotion he evoked in her by rolling her eyes. "Right. Sure. Whatever. Because how am I not the hottest thing walking right now? It must be the huge zit in the middle of my forehead! What a turn on!"

"Would you stop it? There's nothing wrong with how you look."

"You say that now but this is only the beginning, Danny," she protested thickly, "I'm going to get bigger and bigger. Will you still feel the same way in a few months when I'm as big as this bed?"

"I'm going to be saying it for the rest of our lives," he told her, "Even when you're old and wrinkled with thinning hair and reeking of menthol cream. Even when you have to put your teeth in a glass and you have that weird hump in your back that old people sometimes get. I'm always going to think you're the hottest thing walking, Lacey 'soon to be Desai' Porter."

"Wow, that's a nice visual," Lacey laughed in spite of herself.

"What I'm saying is that I love you," he whispered. He stroked a lone finger down the sculpted ridge of her cheek bone. "When I look at you, I don't just see this perfectly exquisite face, which is incomparable by the way." The complement prompted a wobbly smile from Lacey as he continued. "I also see what's in your heart," he told her fervidly, pausing to poke his finger in the left side of her chest for emphasis, "I see all of the things inside of you...like your patience and your capacity for forgiveness. Your loyalty and your stubborn determination. Your passion and your compassion. All of those things only add to your beauty, Lacey, and nothing can take that away. So will you please stop thinking otherwise?"

"I'll try."

"No. No trying. Do or do not. There is no 'try.'"

"Alright, Master Yoda," she groused dryly, though she dimpled at him despite her grumpy tone, "I guess this is your way of saying that _you_ think I'm being a hormonal basket case too?"

"Oh, no doubt," he replied, quickly ducking out from under her attempt to smother him with a pillow afterwards, "But I love you anyway, every neurotic inch of you."

She smacked a smiling kiss to his lips. "And I love you too, every lazy ass inch of you."

Danny laughed into her mouth. "You see? This is exactly why we work so well together."

Lacey lifted her head to regard him with a puzzled look. "And why is that?"

"Because you and I don't look at each other through rose colored glasses and we know how to compromise. I also think we both know how to appreciate the perfection in our individual imperfections. Take this morning when I got up, for instance. I was pretty ticked off at you-,"

"-Excuse me?" Lacey interrupted, rearing back a little in affront, " _You_ were ticked off at _me_? For what?"

"Contrary to what you might think, Lace, you are not a perfect little princess always. There are times when you drive me freaking nuts."

She stared at him in round eyed surprise. "I do?"

He nuzzled her nose to take away any bite his confirmation might cause. "You definitely do. For the record, those post-it notes you're always leaving around are annoying as hell. But that's not the point. The point is that, even when you're making me crazy, you make me happy too. All your weird quirks just make me love you even more. The more I learn about you, the good and the not so hot, the deeper I fall in love with you."

"Yeah..." Lacey sighed, smiling at him in pure adoration, "I know what you mean."

"It's taken me a long time to get to a point where I could believe it but, I _know_ we're good together," Danny said, "Everyone who told us that we weren't ready to get married didn't know what the hell they were talking about. We're going to have an awesome life."

"You really think so?"

He pulled her down against him for another kiss, long and lingering and overflowing with love. "I don't have a single doubt."


	6. Give Me Two Piña Coladas

**Give Me Two Piña Coladas**

Danny ducked into the first public bathroom he found. His plan was to splash some cold water on his face in an attempt to regain his bearings but the actual execution did very little to soothe his frayed nerves. His hands were visibly shaking. He had difficulty coordinating his motor function enough to even switch off the tap. For weeks, he had been preparing himself for the eventuality of facing Vikram Desai in court as he prepared to sue his estranged father for his inheritance. However, he wasn't prepared for the conflicted feelings that would overwhelm him when seeing Vikram face to face again. Danny stared at his dripping reflection in the mirror, filled with self-disgust that he should feel anything at all.

Seeing Vikram again had stirred up all those old feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. Once again, he was faced with his long buried fear that if he couldn't be good enough for his father then he couldn't never be good enough for anyone. Right then, Danny couldn't focus on what he had accomplished. He didn't think about the fact he was soon to be married and expecting his first child. Instead, he was replaying those last few moments in court.

Vikram hadn't contested his motion for control of his inheritance at all. In fact, he had stated to the judge that he was more than willing to turn over the money. All he wanted, Vikram had concluded when personally addressing the judge, was the opportunity to repair his damaged relationship with his only son. The judge, not surprisingly, had been moved by the gesture. Danny, on the other hand, had wanted to vomit. Of course Vikram wanted a relationship with him _now_! He didn't have anybody else! Just as he had been all of his life, Danny was an afterthought for his father. Danny didn't want it to hurt but it did.

In that moment, it hardly mattered that the judge had ruled in his favor and that he could now legally assume the full rights to his grandfather's company and the money that came with it. He couldn't take any satisfaction in the victory because he was too wound up with lifelong insecurities to enjoy it.

The walls of the bathroom felt as if they were closing in around him. He was so overwhelmed that he almost couldn't drag enough air into his lungs. His chest felt tight. His entire body was clammy with sweat. Danny might have feared he was having some kind of cardiac episode if he hadn't been diagnosed with anxiety several months earlier when he had a similar episode. He gripped the porcelain edges of the sink and concentrated on slowing his breathing in the calming exercise his therapist had recommended.

He forced himself to concentrate on the positive aspects of his life rather than dwelling on the negative. Without Vikram as an influence and Tara's oppressive shadow casting a pall over his existence, he could finally have the family he had wanted since he was a child. He could be the husband to Lacey that Vikram hadn't been to his mother. He could be the father that he had yearned for all of his life. He didn't have to relive Vikram Desai's mistakes. He no longer had to be shackled by that miserable legacy at all.

Danny was almost to the point of calming himself when the bathroom door abruptly swished open and Vikram discreetly scooted inside. And, just like that, his brief moment of respite was destroyed. Danny tensed once more. His expression must have registered a measure extreme dread because Vikram almost immediately began justifying himself.

"I was trying to wait for you to come out," he told Danny, "so that we could talk on your terms but, it became pretty obvious that you were avoiding me. I had no choice but to come to you instead."

"And it never crossed your mind that maybe there's a reason I'm avoiding you?" Danny bit out.

"I don't blame you for feeling angry and disillusioned, Danny, but we're family. Let's not leave it like this." Danny scoffed derisively at the request. "You heard what the judge said in there. Our family has lost enough. We're suffered enough. It's time we focus on healing."

With Vikram's tacit reminder of the judge's fervent advice to him that he find a way to forgive his father, Danny flexed his jaw in displeasure. "Clearly, you're as deluded as she was when she made that ridiculous statement. There is no 'we,' Vikram. I have nothing to say to you."

"I understand that," Vikram murmured, "But there are things _I_ would like to say to you, things I want to explain to you. Can't you hear me out, Danny?"

"No. I can't. You might be able charm everyone else with your phony remorse but I'm immune."

He started to walk past Vikram only to have his intent to leave frustrated when his father blocked his path. "It's not phony! I want to make amends for my past mistakes with you! I'm your father, Daniel," he intoned softly, "Give me the opportunity to explain myself! You owe me that much."

Danny raked him with a contemptuous glare. "I don't owe you a damn thing. Get out of my way."

Vikram flicked a brief glance from Danny's stony features to his fists, which were clenched angrily at his sides before lifting his eyes to regard Danny once more. "This doesn't have to be an ordeal between us," he said mildly, "I don't want to fight you and I don't think _you_ want another assault charge on your record, not when you've worked so hard to put your life back together. Do you?"

Although he recognized that Vikram was manipulating the situation to his advantage, Danny could not dispute that the man had a valid point. He had expended a great deal of effort to put distance between the man he was now and the wild child persona he'd had before. If he gave into his desire to shove and punch his way out of the bathroom, no matter how much Vikram was testing the limits of his patience, the only person he would be hurting in the long run would be himself and possibly Lacey by extension. Danny didn't think he could bear the idea of her having to bail him out of a jail a second time.

Ultimately, it was his reluctance to cause her anymore stress that compelled Danny to keep his temper in check. He fell back a step and crossed his arms in mulish, silent concession. "Fine," he grated bitterly, "Say what you have to say and then leave me the hell alone."

Undaunted by Danny's frosty stipulation or his recalcitrant demeanor, Vikram favored his estranged son with an imploring look. "First of all, let me say this. I've missed you, Danny. I really have."

"I haven't missed you," Danny countered brutally, "Next topic."

"Does it really have to be like this?"

Danny pinned him with a glittering stare. "Absolutely."

Vikram winced but persevered nonetheless. "Don't you even want to know why?" he posited softly, "You spent your entire life demanding to know the reason I had such loyalty towards Tara, why I always took her side against yours. _Now_ you're not even going to ask me?"

"Ask you what?" Danny retorted before he could think better of it.

"Why I was having an affair with my own sister," Vikram clarified in a gruff tone, "Why I didn't turn her in when I learned what she had done to your mother."

"The fact that you're a sick, depraved freak pretty much covers it," Danny replied in succinct summation, "What else do I need to know, Vikram?"

"It's more than that and you know it."

"No, I don't because, if I had a sister, I wouldn't be having sex with her!" Danny retorted brutally. _At least, not in this lifetime_ , he added to himself.

"You don't understand. Tara and I grew up in literal hell," Vikram explained, "You may think that my sister was a monster but she was nothing in comparison to Aravinda Desai. Tara took the brunt of his brutality for me. She protected me all of her life. We grew up in a war zone and feeling like the only people that we could trust was each other. For a long time, Tara was all I had and then I met your mother and everything started to change."

Danny averted his eyes, his jaw clenched tight. "I don't want to hear your bullshit version of your marriage to my mother. I have a pretty clear picture of what it was like for her and it wasn't the fairytale romance you try to make it out to be! You belittled her and isolated her and chipped away at her self-worth until there was hardly anything left! And finally, when she found the courage to leave your pathetic ass, you let your sister kill her!"

"I loved your mother, Danny! Our marriage wasn't ideal. That much is true but my father was the one who made it hell, not me! My feelings for Karen were genuine! I know what your grandparents probably told you but none of that was true! I wasn't using Karen for her money. I really _did_ love her."

"Do any of these heartfelt avowals have a point?"

"When Tara came to me and told me what she had done to Karen, I felt responsible," Vikram burst out desperately, "Don't you see? She was only acting to protect me! She was only doing what she thought _I_ wanted! I couldn't let her go to prison for that!"

"So you harbored the woman who murdered my mother instead and _then_ forced _me_ to endure her every day of my life when you knew she hated me and you knew _why_ ," Danny retorted angrily, "Nothing you say will ever justify that to me! It won't absolve you of my mother's death! How you managed to avoid prosecution for that is beyond me!"

"Because I'm only guilty of keeping my silence and nothing more and the DA recognized that."

"How convenient for you."

"Don't think for a moment that I shrugged off what happened to Karen. I may not have served any time in jail for her death but I have paid for what Tara did to her every day since it happened!"

"Poor, put upon Vikram. So you're just a good guy caught in bad circumstances, is that it?" Danny mocked, "Whatever you have to tell yourself so you can sleep at night!"

"I want you to understand."

"Well, you can save your breath because I never will!"

"I want to be in your life, Daniel," his father choked emotionally, "I lost your mother. I lost Tara. I don't want to lose you too. You're the only family I have left."

"You're wrong about that," Danny replied in a flat tone, "Your family died when Tara did. You and I are _nothing_ to each other. You lost me a long time ago." He regarded Vikram with dark eyes devoid of emotion. "Is that all? Have you said everything you wanted to say to me now?"

"I love you. I'm a flawed man but I love you, Danny! I want to repair the damage I've caused between us! Won't you please let me? I'm begging you not to cut me out of your life completely."

"I don't care. We're done here now. Don't ever approach me again," he warned, "Otherwise, I'll risk the assault charge."

Although he maintained an outward show of indifference as he walked out of the bathroom and even from the courthouse, Danny was trembling inside. He staunchly refused to glance back, half afraid that he would find Vikram dogging his heels if he did. And, if that was so, Danny wouldn't be responsible for what he did next.

Consequently, he made a swift and determined path towards his car, his breath escaping in a relieved sigh only when he was safely inside of it. After ensuring that Vikram was nowhere in the vicinity, Danny retrieved his cell phone from the breast pocket of his suit with the intention of alerting Lacey that he was on his way home. His plan to shoot her a text was derailed, however, when he discovered three missed calls from her instead. He tipped his head back against the seat with a shuddering breath, taking a moment to collect himself before returning her call.

The moment she said "hello" he was assaulted with the sounds of loud music, raucous giggles and jumbled conversation in the background. Danny frowned, straining to hear Lacey over the ruckus. "What's going on? Are you watching television?"

She didn't answer him immediately because she was too preoccupied with shushing whoever was there with her. The volume of noise coming at him over the phone decreased but Danny could still detect the sounds of activity in the background. When Lacey had achieved relative quiet, she answered Danny's question by asking one of her own. "Didn't you check your messages?"

"I just got out of court and saw I had a few missed calls from you," he explained, "You called three times so I figured I'd call you straight back."

"Guess what? Sarita and Regina are here. They dropped in this afternoon and surprised me."

Danny had heard plenty about Sarita Martin and Regina Crane from Lacey, though he hadn't had an opportunity to meet either one in person. Both girls had been Lacey's running buddies practically her entire life. The three of them had been inseparable when Lacey lived in Baltimore. They had gone through grade school, middle school and finally high school together and that had helped to form a lifelong bond between them. Sarita and Regina had even made the trip out to Green Grove to support Lacey during and after Clara's funeral. She didn't get to talk to them or see them nearly as often as she wanted to due to the constraints of school and work but Danny knew that they both held a place of special fondness in her heart.

"That's great, Lace. It sounds like you guys are having a good time," Danny said, unaware of how lackluster his tone was until Lacey commented about it.

"And you sound like you're not," she countered gently, "Was it horrible in court today?" She muttered a rueful curse under her breath. "I knew I should have ditched class to come with you."

"No, you shouldn't have and I'm glad you didn't or you would have missed your friends," he argued, "Besides, I wanted to do this on my own and it turned out fine. The judge ruled in our favor."

"Really? You won?"

" _We_ won. Yes. All of the money, the company, all the various properties, with the exception of the house here in Green Grove is in my financial control now. I decided to let Vikram keep the house because I have no interest in living there and I'm not heartless enough to throw him out onto the street."

"That's fantastic, Danny! It's finally over and it's even better than we hoped for!"

"Yep, sure is."

"So then why do you sound so defeated right now?"

Danny slumped forward at the question. It was a simple question but providing an answer would be decidedly more complicated and Danny wasn't certain he had the emotional wherewithal to get into any of it. He also knew Lacey well enough to realize that she wouldn't be satisfied with a laconic answer either. She would probe and probe until she had unearthed every insecurity and negative thought he had. He couldn't deal with it right then. And so, he fell back into old habits without even really trying to...he avoided the situation entirely.

"Nah. It was just a pretty tedious session today," he told Lacey in a deceptively light tone, "You sound like you're enjoying yourself right now and I don't want to bore you with the details."

"Why does the way you say that make me concerned?"

"Really, it's not bad. I'm okay. Just tired. It's been a long day."

"Are you on your way home now?"

"I was but now I'm thinking I might stop and grab a bite to eat instead, give you some time to hang out with your girls first."

"Don't do that. Come home. Sarita and Regina really want to meet you in person."

In the background, Danny could hear Sarita and Regina chorus in a sing-song tone, "Yeah, Danny, we really want to meet you in person." He grunted in response, uncertain in that moment if he was looking forward to the introduction or dreading it. "Give me half an hour or so," he told Lacey, "I'll bring something home with me."

"For us too," Lacey added before he hung up the phone, "There's no food here and we're starving!"

Danny truly had every intention of stopping for pizza and going straight home after that but, while he waited for his order, he found himself wandering over to the bar next door. He sat at the bar for a few minutes, purposely avoiding making eye contact with the bartender while he contemplated whether or not he really wanted to chuck the few weeks of sobriety he had. At a moment when he should have been feeling on top of the world, he felt like crap instead. A shot of whiskey, maybe even a few would go a long way towards numbing the pain. It was the aftermath that he wasn't too sure about.

After hemming and hedging for several minutes, Danny finally placed his order with the impatient bartender but when his drink was delivered to him, complete with tiny cocktail napkin and pretzels, Danny was hesitant to touch it. He wanted to drink it. He wanted to drink _several_ actually and that was the problem. The way he felt right then, it wouldn't stop at one drink. He was hurting but more than anything he dreaded the inevitable disappointment he would bring to Lacey if he fell back into his old habits. Locked in excruciating vacillation over it, Danny did the only thing he felt he could do. He called Jo.

It had been a long time since Danny had felt the inclination to unburden himself to her but right then, feeling as low as he did, it felt natural to call her. After all, she had seen him at his worst and she knew him better than most. More than that, better than anyone, she understood the complicated relationship he had with his father and the love-hate tug of war that had permeated its entire existence. If anything, he knew that he could vent to Jo without compunction because he didn't feel he had anything to lose. Whereas with Lacey, he was always fearful of saying something or doing something that might drive her away permanently.

When his erstwhile best friend showed up fifteen minutes later, Danny was still seated at the bar contemplating the drink he'd ordered, idly tracing his finger along the rim of the glass. Jo made a cautious approach, uncertain of whether he was already drunk or well on his way to getting there. She slid into the empty barstool next to him.

"So what are we doing here, Danny?" she asked him with some degree of dread, "When you called me and asked me to stop you from doing something stupid, I didn't know you already had."

He regarded her with a doleful, sideways glance. "I haven't taken a drink. Not yet. But I'm thinking about it."

"Why?"

"Because just when I think I'm over all the crap my dad pulled, I suddenly realize that I'm not," he said, "and I'm reliving the hell of the past year all over again."

"It wasn't _all_ hell," Jo reminded him softly.

Danny smiled slightly when he thought of Lacey and the bright spot she had brought into his world but it was altogether brief. "Most of it was."

"But that's over now. You're about to become a husband and a father. Do you really want to start off your marriage with this?" she asked with a pointed nod towards his glass.

"I want to get out of my own head for a while. I want to stop hurting."

"You should know from experience that alcohol isn't going to make things better," Jo replied, "Neither is drugs, if that's what you're thinking."

"I guess."

There was a severe lack of conviction in his tone and that fact worried Jo greatly. "Is everything alright with Lacey? You guys aren't fighting, are you?"

"Everything is perfect with Lacey," Danny replied without hesitation, "She's the brightest spot in my life right now."

"So then why are you sitting here about to screw all of that up?"

"Because that's what I do. I screw things up, Jo, and nobody does it better. Sometimes I think it would be easier to fall back on what I know," Danny mumbled to himself, "There's a weird kind of symmetry in that."

Jo contemplated him for a moment, slowly taking in how smartly dressed he was. It wasn't often that she saw Danny in a suit and tie and with freshly polished shoes and she could only think of one reason for it. "Your court date was today, wasn't it?" she surmised in a quiet tone, "You saw your father."

Danny's mouth twisted in an embittered smile. "How did you guess?"

"The suit kind of gives it away. Besides, it wasn't a hard guess. If Lacey isn't the reason for this mood you're in then that just leaves Vikram. And, as I remember it, your dad has always been the one who drove you to drink in the past," she considered, "I guess the more things change..."

"...the more they stay the same," Danny finished for her flatly, "So here I am, yet again, trying to figure out what was so wrong with me that he couldn't love me enough. Why couldn't he care about me? I wish to God it didn't matter to me at all!"

"What did he say to you? Did he give you the cold shoulder today? Did he blame you for Tara?"

"Nope. None of it. He asked me if he could be in my life instead."

"So your father wants a relationship with you and that makes you want to drink?" Jo squinted at him in confusion. "I'm not following here."

"He doesn't want a relationship with me, Jo," Danny scoffed, "I'm the only option he has left. He's _settling_ for me. All I am to him is a conciliation prize to him. The only reason he wants me now is because he doesn't have anybody better. I can't tell you what an esteem booster that realization is!"

"Oh, Danny..."

"I just feel so worthless and I don't understand," he confessed in a muffled tone, "Like what did I _do_? Why couldn't he love me, Jo?"

Jo reached over to squeeze his hand. "It's not you," she reassured him, "It's never been you. There's something broken inside your dad that made him the way he is."

"You didn't used to say that," he reminded her wryly, "You told me that I drove people away, that I tested them until they had no choice but to leave me. Maybe you were right."

"No, I wasn't right and you know that," she refuted sharply, "Don't use stuff I said to you in anger to beat yourself down, Danny! This is your father's shortcoming, not yours. You can't throw away everything good you have in your life over that. Do yourself a favor. Go home to your wife."

He couldn't stop himself from smiling at her phrasing. "My wife. I really like the sound of that."

"I know it's not official yet but you've guys have been practically married since the beginning, so..."

"Next week I'd like to make it official if it's good for Lacey," Danny replied, "I'd like for you and Archie to be there to witness if you can."

"City hall wedding it is then?"

"City hall wedding."

"Yeah. Archie and I will be there. Just tell us when. Now that he's has officially transferred schools, it's a lot easier to coordinate our schedules. We're even thinking about getting a place together."

"That's good, Jo. That's really good. I'm glad you both managed to find your way back to each other."

"Yeah, there's that _and_ I think I need to get out of the house for a bit," she said, "Give my dad time to come to terms with the fact that his perfect little girl isn't quite so perfect after all."

Danny made a small sound of remorse. "I'm sorry it's so tense for you at home right now."

"Why are you apologizing? You're not the one who lied and shattered every illusion my parents ever held about me." Not wanting to derail the topic with talk about her strained relationship with her own father, Jo flicked a wary glance at the untouched drink on the bar counter. "So are you going to go home now or do I need to stage an intervention?"

To her everlasting relief, Danny finally pushed the shot glass away with a resigned sigh. He slipped from the barstool, his lips quirked in an ironic smile and dug into his pocket for a few dollars to cover the cost of his drink. "I'm going home," he said, "I got a couple of pizzas I need to pick up from next door. I was supposed to be home twenty minutes ago. Lacey is probably wondering what the hell happened to me."

"Speaking of Lacey," Jo began in a tentative tone, "you should talk to her about what happened with your dad today and what you're feeling. I'm glad you called me, Danny, and I've missed having that closeness between us but I can't be your go to person anymore. It wouldn't be fair to Lacey if you talked to me about this kind of stuff but kept her in the dark. That's not a great way to start a marriage."

"Did I overstep with you here?"

"No. Not at all," Jo assured him, "You're my best friend, _my brother_. Nothing will ever change that. But you have to let Lacey be your go to person now. I was wrong about her. You _can_ let her see all the parts of you, Danny, the good, the bad and the really, really dark, ugly parts and she's not going to run from you. She hasn't so far."

"You know how bad I can get, Jo," Danny muttered in a self-deprecating tone, "Are you sure about that?"

"She loves you. She'll stick."

"Really? You didn't used to think that at all."

Jo shrugged. "What can I say? I'm finally growing up. It's a brand new Jo."

"Well, I like the 'brand new' Jo. She's very wise."

"I like her too," she admitted with a smile, "Change is good."

"So, is it against the rules if I hug the brand new Jo?"

"There will _never_ be a rule against that," she told him as she beckoned him close for a tight embrace, "Bring it in, Desai." When he came into her arms she hugged him hard, burying her face in her shoulder as she realized that moment was the first time in a long time they had shared an embrace. Really, it was the first time in quite a while that no tension existed between them whatsoever. Their friendship had finally reached a point of complete healing. She held him tighter. "God, I've missed you."

Danny pressed a firm kiss to the top of her head, returning her embrace with equal fervency. "I've missed you too."

They said their goodbyes shortly after that and parted ways just outside of the pizzeria. Just as Danny expected she would, as he ducked inside the car to head home, Lacey called him to demand his whereabouts and what was taking him so long. Danny wisely waited until _after_ she had finished ranting at him to speak. "I'm sorry. I got caught up," he told her as he cranked the ignition, "I'm on my way home with the pizza right now."

"Where did you go to get it?" she griped, "Rome, Italy?"

"Haha, you got jokes."

"Are you sure everything is alright with you?" Lacey fretted, not the least bit deceived by his teasing tone, "You've been acting weird ever since I spoke to you earlier."

"I'll tell you all about it when I get there," he promised, "Give me ten minutes."

Danny was expecting to have an audience waiting for him when he finally arrived home and he wasn't disappointed. As soon as he scooted through the door, he immediately commanded the attention of three sets of eyes. Trying not to feel too self-conscious under their scrutiny, Danny ducked into the kitchen to set the pizza boxes down on the counter.

"There he is," Regina Crane sang out as he did, her eyes following him appreciatively, "The man of the hour. We were beginning to think you'd lost your way home."

"Leave him alone, Reg," Lacey admonished her friend but without any real heat. She skipped forward to greet Danny with a kiss. "He brought us food so he gets a pass." However, despite her joking manner, Danny could easily see concern lurking in the brown depths of her eyes as she looked at him. She leaned in closer to him and mouthed discreetly, "Are you okay?" He knew what she was leaving unspoken. It was Lacey's tacit way of asking if he needed time alone and if he wanted her friends to go.

He would never dream of asking her to do such a thing but Danny was grateful for the offer, especially because he was well aware of how much she had missed both of her friends. Overwhelmed by the intensity of the love he felt for her right then, Danny dragged Lacey into the circle of his arms for another kiss, impervious to their audience.

"I'm better now that I'm here with you," he whispered into her mouth.

Before Lacey could respond to that, somewhere behind them they heard one of the girls loudly clear their throat. Lacey and Danny swung around simultaneous glances of expectation to find Sarita regarding them with a deadpan expression. "So, Lacey, are you just going to spend the rest of the afternoon locked in PDA," she wondered dryly, "or do you plan to introduce us to _your fiancé_ sometime today?"

Danny really didn't require a formal introduction though Lacey was diligent about making them. Even if he hadn't recognized the willowy blonde Regina and sassy brunette Sarita from the pictures that Lacey kept on her cell phone, their distinctive personalities would have given them away immediately. According to Lacey, Regina had always been the bolder and flirtier of the two and Danny could believe that considering the way her eyes were currently combing him in hungry once-over. The intensity of her heavy lidded stare made Danny feel a little exposed.

In contrast, Sarita was currently observing him with unwavering scrutiny, almost as if she were studying a bug under a microscope. He tried not to squirm like one but it was difficult. Sarita was the brash, no-nonsense, "always speak her mind" friend and it showed. Danny suspected that when she finally spoke to him it would be no holds barred and he was right.

"So you're Danny," Sarita surmised thoughtfully as she circled him, sizing him up from all angles, "I guess you're about what I expected. From all the pictures that Lacey has sent me, I thought you'd be taller though." She paused to spear him with a challenging glance. "Better looking too."

"Maybe I _am_ taller and better looking," he countered wryly, "Maybe you're just short and nearsighted."

Sarita narrowed her eyes at his snappy rejoinder while Regina and Lacey laughed. However, when Regina noticed her sour expression, she said, "Oh, stop being so grumpy, Rita." She offered Danny a feline smile. "Can't you appreciate a man with a sense of humor?" Unfortunately, the way she was looking at him right then made it clear to everyone that it wasn't Danny's "humor" that she appreciated. He squirmed anew while Sarita rolled her eyes.

Her irritation with Regina was short-lived however because she was once again spearing Danny with a penetrating look. "You hurt my friend," she stated implacably, "In all the years I've known Lacey, I've never seen a guy turn her inside out like you did, not even her good for nothing ex Chris! You even outdid his sorry ass and that's not a good thing. I have a problem with that."

Lacey sputtered in shock, obviously blindsided by Sarita's statement. "Really, Rita? You're going to do this after everything we talked about?"

"Someone has to do it," Sarita replied, "Your mom is on parental hiatus and Clara isn't here. That leaves me and Regina, which means that leaves just me." She pointedly ignored Regina's screeching protest as she continued. "I have to do what Clara would have done and she definitely would have given him a piece of her mind for the hell he put you through!"

"She's right," Danny acknowledged softly, nudging Lacey when she would have protested, "She would have. So go ahead, Sarita. Say what's on your mind."

"You made her cry," Sarita declared in a brusque tone, "You made her doubt herself. But mostly, you made her question her entire future! But..." she added when Lacey started to argue, "...you make her happy too and I can see that. You've managed to get her to stop hiding behind her books all the time and I give you credit for that. I love that you get her out of her comfort zone. She needs to be shaken up every so often. But if you ever, _ever_ hurt her the way you did before, I will personally castrate you and give your balls to my dog as a chew toy. Are we clear?"

"Yeah," Danny choked, "We're clear."

"Good. I think you and I are going to get along great."

"Don't worry, Danny," Regina reassured him with a feline smile, "Sarita's all bark and no bite. You don't have to be afraid of her. I'll protect you...and your balls."

"God, Regina! Must you act like a bitch in heat everywhere you go?" Sarita griped, "He's Lacey's fiancé for crying out loud! You can't make comments like that. It's inappropriate! Have some dignity!"

"Oh, she knows I don't mean anything by it. Besides, can I help it if I appreciate good looking men and all of their _assets_?" Regina replied with an unrepentant shrug, "It's a gift and a curse. Sue me."

"And on that note, ladies," Danny interrupted uncomfortably, "me and my assets are going into the bedroom to change. Have fun."

"If you really mean that, can we watch?" Regina called after him.

Danny was so unnerved by her bold flirtation and Lacey's seemingly nonchalant attitude about it that he literally jumped a few seconds later when the bedroom door opened because he thought Regina Crane had actually come to afford herself a free show. Instead, Lacey slipped inside their bedroom and closed the door behind her with a soft click. Relieved, Danny finished stripping out of his dress shirt and tossed it into the nearby hamper.

"Your friend was coming on to me out there in a very obvious and creepy way," he told her as he shoved down his pants, "I felt like a piece of meat!"

Lacey flopped across the bed with a dramatic sigh. "Don't take it to heart. That's just Regina. She flirts with anything that has a pulse. You'll get used to it."

Danny digested her reassurance with a disgruntled frown, unsure whether he was comforted by her words or slightly offended. "Thanks...I think."

She rolled to face him, propping herself up onto her elbow to watch as he finished stripping out of his suit and rummaged through the drawers for something comfortable to wear. "Quick," she said, "You have to tell me what's going on with you. If we stay in here too long, they're going to think we're having sex and I'll never live it down."

He averted his eyes in a telling gesture before shrugging into a fresh t-shirt. "There's nothing wrong."

Lacey regarded him with a keen stare. "The fact that you're lying to me right now only makes me worry more," she replied softly.

Recognizing the futility in prolonging the inevitable, Danny huffed a defeated sigh and slowly pivoted to face her. "Fine," he said, bracing his backside against the bureau and crossing his arms, "I saw my dad today and it sucked."

"I thought it might," Lacey murmured, "Why do you think I wanted to go with you?"

"I'm not a baby, Lacey. You don't need to hold my hand through every little thing."

"Maybe I _want_ to hold your hand, did you ever consider that for a second Mr. 'I can do it on my own?'" she grumbled in retort, "Was it awful? Did he give you a hard time about suing for your inheritance? Did he try to disown you again? Is he going to contest the judge's ruling?"

"No. In fact, there wasn't even much of a hearing because he and his lawyer showed up in court today ready to agree to all of my terms."

Lacey gradually shifted upright, her mouth falling open in shock. "What?"

"Oh, he laid it on pretty thick for the judge," Danny said, "Gave this moving speech about how he had spent too many years alienating me and how all he wanted now was to build a relationship with me. He said that if he had legally overturn his father's will to do that, then he would."

"He said all of that?"

"Oh, he gave a monologue so laden with emotion it would have put Hamlet to shame. Judge Braxton ate up every word. She was practically flying a fangirl banner for him by the time it was all over. He had her completely snowed with his remorseful father routine."

"No wonder you're in a bad mood."

"I stood there and watched as he manipulated everybody in that courtroom and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it!"

"Well, now it's over and you don't ever have to deal with him again." The telltale flickering of his expression instantly put Lacey on alert. "It _is_ over...right?"

Danny dropped his head forward with a low groan. "I guess seeing him again today stirred up all of these old feelings and insecurities in me and I felt...I felt like..." He trailed off into silence, pausing to take a rough swallow before he admitted, "I went to a bar this afternoon to get drunk. That's what took me so long to get home."

Lacey absorbed that news with a sharp intake of breath. She couldn't immediately respond with any particular emotion because she was too stunned by his admission. "You've been drinking?"

"No," he rushed to reassure her, "I didn't drink. Jo talked me out of it. But I wanted to. I really did."

She regarded him with a befuddled frown, visibly struggling to process everything he had confessed to her. "I don't understand. Jo? She was there with you?"

"I was having a hard time and I called her. She talked me down."

"You called her. Oh...okay." The revelation filled Lacey with mixed emotions. She didn't know whether to feel grateful that Jo had been the one to coax Danny back from the ledge or jealous because Danny had chosen to confide in Jo rather than in her. In the end, Lacey pushed aside her conflicted feelings and decided to focus on the fact that Jo had kept Danny from making a mistake he would later regret. For now, that was enough. "It's good that she was there for you," she said finally, "It's good you didn't drink."

"Not this time," he said, "I didn't drink _this time_. But someday I might. Someday I _could_ relapse, Lacey, because all of the stuff that made me turn to drugs and alcohol in the first place is still there. I _could_ go back to using and I guess I'm kind of wondering...what happens if I do?"

"What do you mean? What are you asking me?"

"If I messed up like that, if I started using again...would you leave me?"

Lacey drew herself up stiffly, extremely reluctant to answer his question. "I don't think it's fair for you to ask me that, Danny," she told him, "If I tell you 'yes,' then I'm a heartless bitch. But if I tell you 'no,' then that just gives you an excuse to go do it. I'm not okay with that!"

Danny closed the distance between them then and scooted into the empty spot next to her on the bed. "That's not why I'm asking you," he replied ardently, "I swear to you that I will do everything in my power to stay sober. That's the whole reason I called Jo today. It's important to me, Lacey, not just for us but because _I_ want to be better. But I know myself and I know that, there's going to come a day when I'll screw up because that's what I do." He gathered her close and leaned into her so that his forehead was resting against hers. "I need to know you won't lose patience with me when that happens, that you won't give up on me."

She whispered his name and offered him a gentle kiss of reassurance. "As long as you keep trying, I could never give up on you, Danny." She started to confirm that promise with a deeper kiss when a loud knock abruptly sounded at their door. They startled apart as Sarita's voice drifted through the door.

"Okay, we've given you two enough time for nookie, Lacey," she called out, "Now tell Danny to zip it up so you can eat and we can go to the movies already!"

Danny let out a plaintive sigh when Lacey scooted away from him, regarding her with a scowl that was both aggravated and amused at the same time. "Are your friends always this obnoxious or are they making a special effort on my account?"

Lacey shrugged and shifted to her feet. She held out her hand to him. "I'm afraid this is how they roll. You'll learn to love it eventually."

His answering grunt was full of skepticism as he allowed her to tug him to his feet. "If you say so." Despite his grumpy tone, however, Danny had a difficult time biting back his answering smile as they exited the bedroom hand in hand.


	7. Went To Sleep a Boy, Woke Up a Man

**Went To Sleep a Boy, Woke Up a Man**

Still groggy from sleep, Danny dragged towards the bathroom with his mind focused solely on relieving his bladder and taking a hot shower. But before he could even step across the threshold, Lacey yelped and abruptly slammed the door in his face. The resulting thwack, which occurred mere inches away from his nose, caused him to jump back with a startled scowl. He was instantly awake.

"Hey! What the fu...?' Lacey didn't open the door at his affronted bellow. Instead, a telltale click sounded a split second later. In disbelief, Danny reached down to jiggle the doorknob which confirmed his suspicion that she had locked him out. He rapped on the door with a frustrated huff. "Lacey? Lacey? What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What the hell do you think _you're_ doing?" she retorted back through the door, "You almost jinxed the whole thing! I told you it was bad luck for you to see me before the wedding!"

"Didn't I sleep on the couch last night like you wanted?" he whined. His back was aching and he felt as if his entire body had contorted in ways previously unknown to him. In Danny's opinion, he had fulfilled Lacey's request and then some. "Come on, babe," he coaxed, "Open the door."

"Nope! The tradition counts for _today_ too, Danny!"

Barely able to suppress his answering eye roll, Danny thumped his head lightly against the wooden façade of the door and grumbled out several frustrated curses under his breath. "Lacey, come on!" he groaned, "I'm too tired for this." When she didn't answer so he scratched imploringly at the door. "Babe, please. I really gotta pee. I promise I'll keep my eyes closed the whole time. I won't even try to feel you up."

"Gee, thanks for the reassurance, but I'm not taking the chance. Run along!"

His answering groan was muffled against the wood. "Lacey, give me a break. This is crazy."

"Go away, Danny, before you bring bad mojo!"

He rattled the knob once more in defiant reaction. "Lacey, open this door right now! I mean it!"

"No!" she yelled back, equally defiant, "Use the other bathroom!"

"But all of my stuff is in there," he argued plaintively, "How am I supposed to shave? You have to be reasonable. We live together! How does this make any sense?"

She fell so curiously silent immediately after that question that Danny almost believed he had coaxed her over to his point of view. When the door cracked open just barely, he was sure of it...until his toothbrush, razor and body wash were all unceremoniously dumped at his feet and the bathroom door was shut in his face once more. He stared down at the fallen toiletries in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me!" he griped as he stooped to retrieve his belongings, "This is real mature, Lacey! And on our wedding day too!"

"I'm doing this for us! You'll thank me when we have a long and happy marriage!"

Danny might have found her neurotic determination to adhere to tradition endearing if he didn't also want to throttle her right then. He didn't know if it was the pregnancy or a natural aspect of her personality but Lacey had been growing increasingly persnickety ever since they'd nailed down a definitive date for their nuptials. After much back and forth, they had ultimately decided to forgo a formal ceremony due to the fact they were both still at odds with their respective families and their secret fear their loved ones might likely refuse to attend in protest. It seemed easier and much more cost effective to simply get married in a civil ceremony downtown.

Still, the decision to keep her wedding simple and informal, however, did not mean that Lacey wanted to forgo tradition entirely. She had meticulously chosen an elegant, yet casual white dress for the ceremony complete with a bridal bouquet of white roses neither of which she had allowed him to see. She'd also ordered a two tiered cake bedecked with a bride and groom and even purchased a bottle of sparkling white grape juice with two flute glasses to celebrate the occasion. In addition to that, she even somehow managed to convince Danny that they should abstain from sex entirely in the week prior to their wedding because she thought it would make their wedding night more romantic.

According to Lacey, she wanted to simulate the first time between them. She was looking forward to the heightened excitement it would bring on their wedding night. Her rules had been simple but had felt rather impossible to Danny when she'd suggested them. There could be no sexual activity between them below the waist nor could they "relieve" the tension for themselves when they were alone. Essentially, as Danny understood it, he could look forward to seven, excruciating days of the bluest case of blue balls he'd ever had. He hadn't been wrong in that prediction either.

However, while he hadn't been thrilled over the prospect at the time, he couldn't deny that there was part of him that was eagerly anticipating the end to his weeklong sexual deprivation experience. Lacey had been right about that. It _was_ almost like being excited for a first time.

In retrospect, he didn't suppose that Lacey was being too uncompromising. It helped that he was rather laidback where it pertained to the wedding details, not because he didn't care but because, after all Lacey had sacrificed to be with him, Danny knew he could afford a little sacrifice himself. She had loved and stuck by him through much more than any one person should have rightfully endured. He was willing to give her whatever she wanted.

That was the very reason why he hadn't put up much of a fight when she kicked him out of bed the night before. He also hadn't argued when she also made it clear to him that she wanted him to make himself scarce until they met up at the courthouse later that afternoon. Compromise was the key. At least, that was what his grandfather had once told him had been the key to his long, happy marriage. _Give her what she wants, Danny_ , Cam had advised him sagely one day, _you'll have a lot less gray hair_. Danny wasn't so certain about the gray hair part because Lacey was most certainly starting to drive him nuts. Yet, in spite of all her idiosyncrasies and strict attention to tradition, he knew that he'd go through it a thousand times if it meant that, by the end of it all, Lacey Porter would be his wife.

Consequently, by the time he stepped underneath the balmy shower spray in the guest bathroom his aggravation with her had dissipated entirely. It helped to look at the situation objectively. Truly, Lacey wasn't expecting anything too terribly imposing. So what if he had spent the last seven days nursing his erection with an ice pack, he thought to himself. He had years and years ahead filled with the incredible prospect of making love to her on the daily. And so what if he had to spend one night without her cuddled next to him? He had the rest of his life to hold her, sleep next to her and wake with her sprawled horizontally across their bed.

They couldn't have a "real" wedding so the least he could do was grant her whatever request she made of him, no matter how unreasonable it might seem. Viewed from that perspective, it didn't really feel like he was making much of a sacrifice at all. Those considerations left him in a much better mood and when he finally exited the shower to go through his morning routine, he was grinning. That grin didn't waver either when he stepped out into the living room and found his suit, underwear and shoes laid neatly across the futon with the obvious message that he should get dressed there.

He wasn't even annoyed. Instead, he finished getting dressed with a smile because he couldn't forget that in less than three hours he and Lacey would become husband and wife. He'd have the rest of his life to deal with her craziness and he absolutely could not wait. Once he was finished, he put in a call to Archie to come pick him up.

Twenty minutes later, he was dropping his overnight bag into Archie's trunk before ducking into the passenger's seat. He found Archie sitting there, regarding him with a dubious expression. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Should I be concerned about this?" he asked, watching with wary eyes as Danny snapped into his seatbelt.

"Concerned about what?"

Archie split his attention between Danny and backing out his parking space. "You call me for a ride two hours before you're supposed to get married," he clarified, "I'm not an expert or anything but this can't be a good thing, Danny. What gives? You and Lacey didn't call it off, did you?"

"Would I be in this suit right now if we'd called it off?" Danny retorted sarcastically.

"How the hell should I know? The last we talked, Jo and I were supposed to meet you guys at the courthouse! This wasn't exactly the plan."

"That's because of Lacey. This was all her idea. It's bad luck for me to see her before the wedding so she's going to take my car and meet us at the courthouse instead."

Archie made a scoffing sound under his breath. "Sounds a little suspect to me," he ribbed Danny purposely, "Are you sure she's not getting cold feet and she's not planning a quick getaway?"

He was only teasing and that was clear from his toothy grin but when Danny answered, his words were serious and filled with conviction. "Not a chance."

"Good," Archie replied with a bobbing nod of approval, "So where are we headed? Is this aimless driving for the next couple of hours or do you have a specific destination in mind?"

"Specific destination. Take me to the baby store."

Because he had not really been expecting that answer, Archie did a double take. "You seriously want to spend your last moments of bachelorhood _in the baby store_ , dressed in a suit and polished Wingtips? Is this what marriage and fatherhood do to a person? It's like you woke up a forty year old man!"

Danny replied to Archie's rather critical appraisal with a casual flip of his middle finger. "You can rotate on it, bitch."

Archie gasped in mock affront complete with simulated pearl clutching. "How crude! I am both shocked and appalled by your language, Daniel!"

"If you're done being an asshole, I'll tell you why I want to go," Danny huffed in exasperation. He waited until Archie was, at least, _pretending_ to be serious before he resumed his explanation. "There's a baby swing that Lacey absolutely fell in love with a couple of weeks back but she didn't want to buy it because she thought it was too expensive."

"But you're rich," Archie reminded him flatly, "Money is no object now that you have control of your inheritance. Right?"

"It doesn't matter. Lacey and I agreed to be careful about our spending. Just because we have money that doesn't mean we should live frivolously. We don't want to take anything for granted."

"Is that Lacey talking right now or is that how _you_ feel?"

Danny wasn't offended by the question. He well understood Archie's skepticism. In his past, he hadn't been the most prudent person when it came to money and finances. There was a time not too long ago when he had spent what he liked, when he liked with no thought towards the consequences.

"It's me, Arch," he said, "I'm not the same person now that I was back then."

Archie responded with a sage nod. "Like I said, you woke up a forty year old man. I'm not knocking it, but damn, Desai! You're not even twenty one yet!"

"So what? I'm about to be somebody's father. I can't screw it up the way my dad did."

"Danny, you'd have to abandon the kid completely to screw it up like your dad did."

"Still, I've got enough working against me without adding being stupid about money on top of it."

"But that's not going to stop you from buying this swing for Lacey, is it?"

"I want to do something special for her. She deserves that. Our baby deserves that." Archie blinked at him speechlessly and Danny took his responding silence and expression for implied disapproval. "I know, I know. It's not the most romantic gift in the world. After all, we're getting married today. I should probably get her jewelry or something, huh?" he muttered. He smacked his forehead in self-deprecation. "God, I'm such an idiot! What new wife wants a baby swing as a gift?"

Far from chastising Danny's choice, Archie quickly averted his eyes and cleared his throat. "No...no. I think that's great and I'm sure Lacey will love it," he muttered thickly, "I...uh...I guess I just wish I'd had the chance to do that...with Jo, I mean. I see you and Lacey getting prepared for your baby and it reminds me of all the stuff I missed with her."

Belatedly realizing the reason for Archie's sudden shift in demeanor, Danny shifted around in his seat to observe his friend and expelled a commiserative sigh. "I'm really sorry you didn't have the chance to share those moments with Jo, Arch," he murmured sincerely, "I never meant to put myself in the middle. You should have had that."

"Yeah, well...we both know that none of that was on you," Archie hedged, "That was me and Jo."

"I played my part," Danny admitted gruffly, "And sometimes I wonder if I was being willfully blind about the whole thing. I always knew something was off but I didn't want to face it."

"Still not on you," Archie insisted, "It was Jo's lie and my silence that created this whole mess. It wasn't up to you to fix it."

"The bottom line is, he was still _your_ son and he died," Danny countered quietly, "You get to grieve about that. I've told you before that I wouldn't be offended if you wanted to change the name on his headstone. In fact, I think you should."

"But there's been so much media speculation about you and Jo, especially after everything that went down with Tara. What's it going to look like if we suddenly change the name on his headstone? The tabloids will have a field day."

"It's going to look like the truth," Danny replied, "Besides, who the hell cares about the tabloids? I can deal with the scrutiny. This is your kid we're talking about. You didn't get a chance to claim him when he was alive so you should, at least, get to do that now."

Archie shook his head though he looked visibly torn over by the offer. It was clear to Danny, even although he hadn't admitted it aloud, that Archie had contemplated the same argument on his own before. "I don't know, Danny. Maybe we should leave it like it is. You loved him too."

"But not like you loved him," Danny argued softly, "I didn't want him like you did either. When Jo told me he was mine, I accepted it because I _had_ to but you _wanted_ him to be yours. That's the difference. He was your child and he should be buried with the name you wanted to give him."

Hoping to mask the vulnerability Danny's heartfelt words exposed within him, Archie favored his friend with a brief, wry grin. "How do you know it wasn't my plan all along to name my firstborn son after you?"

Danny glanced at him in startled surprise. "Was it?"

"You _are_ the closest thing I have to a brother," Archie considered with a noncommittal shrug, "I thought about it. I also thought about naming him after my dad. Jo and I never really talked about it though and now it's too late."

"It's not too late. Do it. Change his name to Daniel Oliver Yates. That's the way it should have been from the very beginning."

"How do you know it wouldn't have been _Oliver Daniel_ Yates?" Archie teased, "Or Aran Oliver Yates or Oliver Daniel Aran-,"

"-Okay. Okay! Whatever," Danny groused, "Just change it already!"

Unable to hide behind irreverent humor any longer, Archie shifted uncomfortably in his seat as his first serious consideration of the prospect settled on him. "I want to but...it's probably not a good idea. What if Jo doesn't agree?"

"Why wouldn't she?"

"She named him after you even when she knew and _I knew_ he wasn't yours," Archie reminded him flatly, "That wasn't an accident. You come first with her."

"That's not true."

"Like hell it's not. You did in that first life and you do now." Archie held up his hand for silence before Danny could launch into vehement denials. "Save your breath. I know the score and I made my peace with it a long time ago." Finally having reached their destination, Archie pulled into the first empty parking space and didn't address Danny again until after he had cut the engine.

"Listen, Danny, we're adults now," he sighed, "It used to frustrate the hell out of me that she always considered you before she thought of us. She did it when you were a pharaoh and she did it in this time period too. But you're her brother. You're a part of her soul. That's just the way it is."

"Maybe that was true at one time but not anymore. She and I have both grown beyond that."

"Right. Sure you have."

"I can't believe you're being serious right now." Archie's expression didn't waver one iota in response to that challenge. Danny blew out a short, incredulous laugh. "Have you shared this theory of yours with Jo by any chance?"

"Are you kidding? She's just as much in denial about it as you are!"

"No, I don't think it's that at all," Danny challenged softly, "I think you know better. I think you're using me as an excuse so that you don't have to discuss what's really bothering you."

"And what's that, Sigmund Freud?"

"The baby. You can't talk to her about the baby." Archie cut his eyes away sharply after that, confirming Danny's suspicions. "Haven't you guys ever discussed what happened?"

"Surprisingly...no we haven't, not since she told me the truth about him when she was in the hospital."

Danny rolled his eyes in disbelief. "And Jo accuses _me_ of being bad at communication. You guys lose a kid together and you don't think you need to sit down and talk about what that means?"

"We've talked about the past. We've talked about us. We've even talked about _you_ to an extent," Archie said, "But the baby...we have a really hard time discussing him at all."

"Because it hurts too much?"

"Because I still have a lot of unresolved anger towards her about it," Archie confessed in a guilty mumble, "and I know that sounds petty but I can't help how I feel."

"It's not petty. She lied to you. That's a huge thing to get over."

"Yeah but the situation wasn't ideal. It's not like we were in a relationship when she got pregnant or even like we were in love at the time...at least, _she_ wasn't. But we worked hard to move past all of that and I know she feels bad about what happened. She's trying to put her life back together now and I don't want to make that harder for her."

"And it's not hard for you? You should tell her what you're feeling," Danny advised him sagely, "You'll never really move past it otherwise. That's what I did and now Jo and I are finally getting back to a good place. I can trust her again but we had to get all that other shit out of the way first."

"It's different for you," Archie argued, "You were already angry with her about lying about her pregnancy in the first place so you weren't too concerned about tiptoeing around her feelings after the baby died. You cut her off but I was there and I saw what she went through. I know what that lie cost her, what it's _still_ costing her. She's been through hell."

"So have you."

"I can handle it. But Jo..." He blew out a mournful sigh. "She puts up a great front but she's really fragile right now, Danny. Her dad won't speak to her, her mom questions everything she does. Neither of them trust her. You and she didn't even start being real friends again until recently. I can't tell her that I'm still upset about the baby. She'll be devastated. Our relationship is probably the only thing in her life that is going right. I'm her safe place. I don't want to change that."

"How is you being honest going to change that?"

Archie shook his head in frustrated dismissal. "You don't get it. I'm not going to be another person who rakes her over the coals. I did that once and she almost died. I'm not going there again."

"No one is saying that you have to go off on her or make her feel like shit," Danny told him, "All I'm saying is that you should talk to her about your feelings and then put it behind you. How are you guys ever going to move forward for real if you have this enormous lie between you?"

Not wanting to acknowledge the wisdom in Danny's advice right then, Archie took refuge in sarcasm instead. "Are you, Danny 'You have to pry it out of me with a crowbar' Desai, advocating for open, unreserved communication? Seriously?"

"Then you should realize I know what I'm talking about," Danny replied, unruffled, "You keep bottling all of this up inside of you, it's going to come back and bite you in the ass."

"Oh yeah, it's easy for you to be all 'tell her how you really feel' and who cares if it blows my relationship to kingdom come?" Archie retorted, "What could you possibly know about it? Your relationship is angel kissed perfection!"

"Give me a break!" Danny snorted, "You damn well know that Lacey and I have had our share of problems. Do you think I didn't feel resentment towards her after the car accident when she bailed on me? I did. For the longest time, I did and I think part of the reason I wouldn't let her close to me was because I was punishing her for that. She hurt me, Archie. She hurt me really bad."

"So how'd you get over it?"

"I had to remember that I hurt her too...and she forgave me. Over and over again. She's _still_ forgiving me. I think that comes with the territory when you love someone."

"You're saying I should forgive Jo?"

"She's forgiven you for worse...conspiring to kill her brother and taking advantage of her when she was vulnerable and hurt over another guy come to mind," Danny reminded him pointedly. Archie had the grace to duck his head in shame. "I'm not trying to beat you over the head with the past. I guess I'm asking _why_ you haven't been able to forgive her up until now."

"You _know_ why."

"Yeah, but I want you to say it anyway."

"Because she shared all of that with _you_!" he burst out fiercely, "She let _you_ close when you couldn't even give a damn while she held me at arm's length and I don't get why! All I wanted was to be with her, to share that experience with her and she chose to do it on her own. She shut me out for months and months and finally, _finally_ when she decides to let me in it was only _after_ the baby died! I didn't deserve that!"

"So tell _her_ that," Danny advised him quietly, "talk it out and then put it behind you."

"You don't think I'm being a jerk by bringing it up at all?"

Danny shook his head. "I think you're mad. At her and at me and that's okay because it's your turn to be pissed off now."

Archie leaned back into the headrest and expelled a long-suffering sigh. "God, we're fucked up."

"At least we know it."

"Great."

"Are you going to talk to her?" Danny pressed, "Because, if you don't, then you'll _really_ be fucked up."

"Okay...okay, I hear you," Archie grumbled, burying his face in his hands, "I'll think about what you said."

"And you'll for sure talk to her?"

"Yes, I'll talk to her! Fuck! When the hell did you get so naggy?"

"You're welcome."

Archie rolled his eyes at Danny's sour tone. "Oh, don't act like such a martyr! You're really good at giving out advice, ye ole' wise one, but not so good at following it yourself."

Danny's brows snapped together in a dark scowl. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means when are you going to be _honest_ and fix things with your grandparents? For the first time in your life you have actual family who loves you and you're being a complete idiot about them!"

Unsurprisingly, Danny bristled at his needling mostly because he knew he couldn't deny a single one of Archie's charges. His best friend knew him too well. It _had_ been much easier to dispense advice to Archie and suggest solutions for his problems. Contemplating his own personal dilemma, however, was another matter entirely. He couldn't find a ready solution for his own woes quite so effortlessly.

"It's not the same thing!" Danny countered brusquely, "Besides, shouldn't you be asking about when _they_ are going to fix things with _me_? They're the ones protesting my marriage, remember?"

"Stop being such a drama queen! They're not protesting your marriage."

"Like hell they're not! I was there, Archie! I know exactly what was said! Besides, how would you know anything about it?"

Archie's smug countenance suddenly became shuttered with guilt as he admitted somewhat sheepishly, "Because your grandmother kinda, sorta called me to get an update on you and I didn't get the impression that she was protesting anything when I spoke to her."

Danny swiveled around in his seat. "She did _what_?" he flared, "You talked to Mimi? What she ask you? What did you tell her? When did this happen? Why didn't you say anything to me? How did she even get your number?"

"Was is this? The Spanish Inquisition? Are you gonna let me answer a question or what?"

Dutifully, Danny clamped his mouth shut but the muscle in his cheek ticked ominously. He didn't speak again until he had recovered some composure. Once he was calmer, he bit out tersely, "When?"

"Last week."

"Why?"

"She wanted to know how you and Lacey were doing and if you guys needed anything and if you'd gotten married already."

"What did you tell her?"

"That you and Lacey were happy and not broke and then I told her the date you guys were getting hitched."

"What did she say after you told her?"

"She said 'thank you' and that was it. Conversation over. She said goodbye. I said goodbye."

"That's it?" Danny queried in disappointment, "She didn't ask you to give me a message? She didn't say anything about whether or not her and Cam were going to show up today or if they wanted to see me at all?"

"Not a word. In fact, _I_ did most of the talking. She just asked me questions." While Danny silently mulled over all he had revealed, Archie went on to clarify, "For the record, I have no idea how she got my number in the first place! Your grandmother is a like a freaking ninja!"

"Are you sure she didn't say anything about showing up today?" Danny pressed him further, "I mean she asked if I had gotten married already so obviously she was interested in knowing. Right?" Although he tried to keep his tone informal and unaffected, Archie could easily detect the hopeful note in his questions. "Why would she care otherwise?"

"She never said one way or the other but that doesn't mean anything," Archie added quickly when Danny reacted with a crestfallen scowl, "It seemed like she was trying to feel me out about what _you_ wanted. Maybe you should call her and tell her that you want them to be here."

After swallowing down the hurt and disappointment he felt upon hearing that, Danny sat back in his seat with a remote expression. "It's too late for that. If she didn't mention wanting to come here then that probably means she doesn't want to."

"Danny, she called to check up on you," Archie reasoned, "It's not like they've washed their hands of you or anything. Maybe she's just waiting for _you_ to invite her."

"I doubt it," Danny mumbled, "Just do me a favor. Don't mention any of this to Lacey. She already blames herself for the conflict between me and my grandparents. I don't want her to feel worse, especially not today."

"I still think you should call them," Archie recommended dryly.

"I still think you don't know what you're talking about," Danny countered with equal dryness.

"So noted. But you should listen to me anyway. You're not the only wise old man in this car."

Archie's attempt at levity did much to dispel any tension that might have remained between them. They spent the remainder of the morning combing the aisles of the baby store which inevitably led to Danny purchasing much more than he'd originally planned. By the time he and Archie finally made it to the courthouse, with only minutes to spare before Danny's scheduled nuptials, Archie's trunk was packed to the brim with baby gear. But Danny also had a solid plan had been concocted for Lacey's wedding surprise with Archie acting as his able-bodied wingman. He was feeling pretty pleased with himself until he stepped into the main lobby and discovered Jo pacing the floor like a caged tigress.

Upon spotting them, she stopped short with a harried expression and began walking briskly to meet them as they came tumbling through the revolving glass doors together. "It's about damn time!" she chastised crossly, "What took you so long? I left you both like two dozen messages! Couldn't one of you idiots pick up?"

"My phone's out of juice," Archie justified.

"I must have had mine on silent," Danny followed up nonchalantly after greeting Jo with a brief hug. He craned a curious look around her, noting that his fiancée was conspicuously absent. "Where's Lacey? Is she here yet?"

"She's waiting for you outside Judge Barber's chambers. You should move your ass. The last time I saw her she didn't look too happy."

She had barely finished speaking before Danny went sprinting down the corridor. He didn't stop running until he caught sight of Lacey. He spotted her seated in one of the chairs just outside of Judge Barber's office and tapping her foot impatiently. Before he could take in anymore of her appearance, Danny quickly pinched his eyes shut.

As soon as she caught sight of him, Lacey wilted with relief and shifted to her feet. Her swamping annoyance with him over his tardiness instantly started to give way to reluctant amusement as she watched Danny blindly grope his way towards her. She pressed her lips together tightly, refusing to give him the satisfaction of laughing out loud at his antics. Instead, she shook her head at the ridiculous picture he made.

"You're late," she informed him tartly when he was within earshot.

With his eyes still closed, Danny wisely bit back his answering smile. "Technically, I'm one minute early."

"Technically, I should kick your ass," Lacey volleyed back in a dry tone, "You should have been here half an hour ago." She crossed her arms, waiting patiently while he clumsily felt his way across the empty space between them to reach her. "And just what do you think you're doing, Desai?"

Despite her question, Danny didn't dare peek at her when he asked, "Is it okay for me to look at you now? You almost broke my face this morning so I want to be sure before I open my eyes."

Lacey rolled her eyes at his dramatics but was having a harder and harder time fighting back her smile. "We're getting married in thirty seconds. I think you're safe."

Danny opened his eyes and, the instant he did, his breath caught in his throat. Yet, the phrase "breathtaking" seemed too inadequate a description. Lacey Porter had always been a beautiful woman. He always felt a little star-struck when he looked at her. But being aware of her flawless beauty did nothing to prepare him for how absolutely stunning she looked as a bride.

Her long, dark hair was loose and had been pulled back from her face, simply adorned with a white, satin headband decorated with small, white satin roses. Her dress, with its tight fitting bodice and wide, fluid skirt that flowed mid-thigh, drew inevitable attention to her marvelously long legs, strappy, high heeled sandals and silver polished toenails. The dress itself was made of a filmy, diaphanous material that flowed around her body in a loose, flowing shimmer and obscured her burgeoning baby bump.

He swallowed past the lump that formed in his throat. "Wow..."

Lacey smoothed her hands over her translucent sleeves with a self-conscious smile. "You don't think it looks too old-fashioned, do you?" she fretted, "I found it on an online catalog and fell in love."

"Are you kidding? You look amazing. I can't believe I get to marry you today."

"You mean you still want to?" she asked in a flash of rare insecurity, "Considering the way I've been acting lately, when you didn't show up on time I thought that maybe you...that maybe..."

While she struggled to complete her statement, Danny closed the remaining distance between them, framed her face in his hands and kissed her gently. "Never in a million years," he vowed in a whisper, "I cannot wait for you to be my wife."

She nuzzled his nose, her eyes sinking closed in relieved contentment. "And I can't wait for you to be my husband. By the way, you look pretty beautiful yourself. You clean up nice, Desai."

He had _more than_ cleaned up, however. Lacey couldn't quite describe how unbelievably sexy she found him in a suit. There was something very natural in the way Danny wore his dark grey, custom tailored Brooks Brother with his pristine white shirt and bold, red tie...almost as if he had been born to be adorned in formal clothes. His hair, which had been growing rapidly since he first cut it, was secured back from his face in an untidy bun at the crown of his head but somehow only made him appear more elegant. Even the scraggly new goatee that he'd been sporting lately, of which Lacey was not overly fond, did not detract from his beauty.

With a thoroughly enamored smile, Lacey reached up to smooth her fingers over the perfect Windsor knot at the base of his throat. "Have I told you today how in love I am with you?"

"Nope. You were too busy trying to break my nose," he teased irreverently.

"Will you let that go?" she groaned, "I'm being romantic here."

"Be romantic later," he told her, "Right now, let's go in there and get married already."

The ceremony was about as regimented and formulated as one would imagine a civil proceeding to be. With Archie and Jo standing as their legal witnesses, Danny and Lacey took their places before the judge. There was no music, no walking down the aisle, no flowery monologue extolling the sanctity of marriage. After Judge Barber had established that the young couple had their documentation in order and had thoroughly explained to them what to expect following the ceremony, he officially married them in a rote script. He wasn't so strict that he didn't allow them a bit of time to recite their own personal vows but he was also adamant about reminding them of the time and the fact that he had another appointment directly after theirs.

Despite its fairly clinical unfolding, Archie videotaped the ceremony on Jo's cell phone while Jo preoccupied herself with concealing her sentimental tears. The entire service took less than half an hour but, by the end of it, both Danny and Lacey felt that their lives had changed irrevocably. They sealed their joy over that fact with a long, lingering kiss, at last pronounced husband and wife.

"Now what?" Archie asked when the newlyweds finally came up for air again.

Lacey's answer was predictable but welcome nonetheless. "Now we eat. I'm starving! I haven't had anything since breakfast!"

Thirty minutes later, the four of them were seated together in their usual booth at Johnnycakes. Danny, Archie and Jo watched in speechless amazement as Lacey practically inhaled a double bacon cheeseburger, onion rings, a milkshake and then finished off the meal with a brownie sundae for dessert. When she was satisfied, she slumped down in her seat and patted her belly with a contented sigh. It was only then that Lacey became aware of their open-mouthed scrutiny.

"What?" she demanded self-consciously as she assimilated their dubious expressions, "Don't look at me like that! I'm growing a human being here!"

"I'm starting to think that you're growing _a whole tribe_ the way you put down all that food," Archie joked, "Damn, girl!" His reward for that snappy remark was a face full of crumpled napkin.

"Where do you put it all?" Jo asked with a measure of wonder, "When I was pregnant, I swelled up like the Goodyear blimp!"

"You were beautiful," Archie insisted softly in argument.

"I was a walking float and you know it! I want to know what Lacey is doing to stay so trim." She scrutinized her former enemy closely. "You have a pact going with the devil, don't you?"

"I wish," Lacey snorted, "Otherwise I'd have him deflate my ass. It will have its own zip code soon."

"Nope. No one touches your ass," Danny protested, "It's mine now and I love every rotund inch of it." He pulled Lacey close so that he could nibble playfully at the underside of her jaw. "I can't wait to show you how much I love it tonight."

Jo shoved her meal basket away with a grimace of distaste. "Does anyone care that I'm eating here?"

Tacitly ignoring Jo's comment altogether, Lacey said, "Speaking of tonight, shouldn't we be checking into the hotel soon?"

In lieu of a true honeymoon, both Danny and Lacey had decided to spend two passion filled nights in Green Grove's most expensive hotel instead. Lacey couldn't afford to be away from school any longer than that and forgoing a trip across country or possibly overseas would also save them money. It wasn't the most ideal compromise but it was one they both could live with.

"Yeah, I think we've got another thirty minutes or so before that happens," Danny replied, directing an unspoken glance towards Archie that went unnoticed by Lacey, "The concierge is supposed to call me when it's ready."

"Okay. I guess we can just hang out here until then," Lacey sighed.

"Not us," Archie said, already sliding from the booth, "Jo and I are going to cut out because I've got this thing I have to do."

"We are? What thing?" Jo demanded, "You never mentioned having to do a thing."

"Well, I have a thing. I'll explain to you in the car."

"Why can't you explain it to me now?"

"Because I can't!"

They were still bickering amongst themselves about it while they exited the diner together. Lacey watched them leave with a faint smile. "They're pretty sweet together, aren't they? Almost like an old married couple."

Danny grinned knowingly at her observation. "You're starting to like my friends, aren't you? Just admit it. You ship them."

"I do not!"

"You ship Jarchie! You're a Jarchie fangirl."

"I cannot believe you just portmanteau'd their names. You're such a child."

"Well, you're the one who ships them so who's more childish? Me or you?"

She poked him in the side, her features pinched in a warning scowl. "Stop it! I do not ship them. And I do not _like_ them. Like is a very strong word."

"You do. You like them. Just say it. They're growing on you."

"Yes. Like fungus. There! Are you happy now, husband?"

He smacked a smiling kiss to her lips. "I'll take it, wife."

Danny was all but fidgeting in his seat with unreserved excitement by the time Archie called twenty minutes later with confirmation that the plan had been executed. "Everything is set up in the room just like you wanted," Archie told him, "I left your credit card on the nightstand beside the bed. The big, _king-sized_ bed. I'm sure you and Lacey are going to put that to great use tonight."

"You're a pervert, Yates."

"Hey, watch it now! Do you talk to all concierges that way or am I just special? What will your wife think?"

"My _wife_ is in the bathroom so I can freely tell you how much of an asshole you are," Danny replied wryly, "And how much I love you. Thanks, Archie. I owe you, man."

"Ugh. Don't go soft on me now. We managed to make it through this whole day without tears. Let's keep it that way."

"You'll think about what I told you earlier?" Danny pressed before they ended their conversation.

"Only if you think about what _I_ told you," Archie countered.

"Deal." He finished pocketing his cell phone just as Lacey finally emerged from the bathroom. "The room's ready," he told her when she reached the table, "You want to get out of here?"

"Like two hours ago."

Lacey expected that once they reached the hotel room, Danny wouldn't waste any time getting her inside and then getting her naked. He had a week's worth of abstinence to make up for after all. She was surprised, however, when after unlocking the door he swung her up into his arms instead with every intention of carrying her over the threshold. At first, Lacey protested his efforts, fearful that she might be too heavy for him with the extra baby weight. But Danny assuaged her fears when he bore her rather effortlessly across the entrance and into their honeymoon suite.

She started to commend him for refraining from cracking a single back joke but the words lodged in her throat when she got her first glimpse of the surprise that awaited her. The entire suite was littered with presents, some wrapped and some unwrapped but they all had a distinctive theme. She was surrounded by baby gear, everything from strollers and bassinets to plush, stuffed animals and fluffy, receiving blankets. Lacey stumbled forward with a stunned gasp, gravitating over towards the box that housed the baby swing that had caught her eye weeks prior. She lurched around to face Danny with a hitching gasp.

"Did you buy out the whole store?" she asked in disbelief.

"I only meant to buy the swing," he admitted sheepishly, "But the sales girl was so convincing that I ended up buying all the other stuff too."

"How much did it cost?" She almost didn't want to know but her mind was already doing the mathematical calculations and her estimated figure had her cringing inwardly.

"It doesn't matter how much it cost," Danny argued, "This is our first baby together and we can afford to splurge on him or her a little bit. I don't regret a thing and I don't want you to either."

"This baby is going to be so spoiled," Lacey predicted wryly.

"I sure hope so."

"How are we supposed to get all of this stuff back home _and_ fit our suitcases in the trunk?"

"I've got that covered. Archie will be by tomorrow to pick everything up and take it back to the apartment."

"Oh, so you two had this little plan going from the start?" Lacey surmised in a dry tone, "Okay, I changed my mind. Maybe I _do_ like him a little bit after all."

"It was only a matter of time," Danny replied with a smug smile, "Fungus is hard to kill."

"Keep that up and you won't get _your_ surprise," she warned. Danny's eyes widened with such boyish anticipation that Lacey couldn't help but laugh. "Oh yeah. That's right. I got something for you too."

"Oooh, gimme, gimme, gimme..."

"Not yet. First you have to make yourself comfortable," Lacey instructed, "and I need to get my bag."

Danny trailed her heels as she went to retrieve her overnight bag from the hallway. "When you say you want me comfortable do you mean you want me..."

"I mean I want you naked," she clarified boldly, "Can you do that, Desai?"

"Hell yes!"

Lacey hadn't even shut herself into the bathroom before Danny was eagerly stripping out of his clothing, haphazardly flinging the pieces across the room as he stumbled towards the bed. Without a second thought, he swept all the stuffed animals that Archie had artfully set up against the pillows to the floor and then scrambled beneath the sheets. But as he lay there naked, anticipating the moment when Lacey would emerge from the bathroom, Danny was struck with a curious case of nerves.

Suddenly, his palms felt clammy and his heart was knocking like a jackhammer in his chest. He felt giddy with anticipation and excitement...almost like it was the first time. That made very little sense to him at first because he was far from being sexually inexperienced. But then he realized that, in a sense, it _would_ be the first time for him. It would be the first time he had ever made love to _his wife_. Not only that, Lacey would also be the last woman to ever share his bed. That was a significant realization for Danny because that night he knew he was going to have possibly the most meaningful sex of his life. Seen from that perspective, it was little wonder that he was nervous.

He actually jumped a little when the bathroom door hissed open and Lacey slipped outside, dressed in little more than a white, translucent teddy and her dimples. His eyes roamed over her body hungrily, lingering on her quivering breasts before dipping lower. Lacey bit her lip, carefully avoiding making direct eye contact with Danny as she crossed the distance between them and hastily scooted under the covers to join him.

"Hello, husband," she whispered with a timid smile when they were lying side by side.

"Hello, wife," he whispered back, "Are you feeling as nervous as I am right now?"

"You're nervous too?"

"We're about to have sex for the first time as husband and wife. That's a big deal, isn't it?"

"It _feels_ like a big deal," she admitted, "This feels different from all the other times we've been together."

Danny strummed his fingers down the arch of her slender throat, fascinated by the tiny pulse that fluttered at the base. "Because this time it's official?"

"No," she whispered as he dipped his head to kiss her there, "Because this time it's _forever_."


	8. We Are Family

**We Are Family**

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

Lacey froze mid-step and directed a defiant glance over her shoulder at Danny at the commanding censure she detected in his words. "Excuse me?"

He met her expression with some defiance of his own, gesturing to the wooden catastrophe that littered the floor of the spare bedroom and was destined to become their child's first baby bed. "I know you're not leaving me alone with this."

Her hands fluttered in exasperation. "Someone just rang the doorbell." It was clear from her inflection that she thought that should have been explanation enough for him. It wasn't.

"A convenient excuse. Don't think I didn't notice how quickly you popped up to answer it either," Danny griped, "You're just trying to bail on me. I know the second you leave this room, there's no chance in hell that you're coming back."

"That is not true." He might have been more inclined to believe her denial if her dimples weren't trying to peek through in that moment and he told her so. "That's just my face," Lacey retorted waspishly, "You can't blame me for my face!"

"Sure. Whatever you say."

His less than convinced tone had Lacey quickly dropping her eyes because she knew he had her nailed down cold. It's not like she hadn't been obvious. For the past two hours Lacey had been employing every trick she knew, both dirty and legitimate, to escape the crib of doom. That contraption, with all its complicated intricacies, had quickly become the bane of her existence. All the baby magazines had touted it as a much needed baby accessory, the perfect piece of furniture that could transform with one's child through its formative years. She had practically badgered Danny into purchasing it. Now she was wishing she had never said a word.

None of raving reviews on Amazon had mentioned how impossible it would be to assemble the damn thing! Sure there had been a handful of negative experiences on the Amazon website but for the most part no one had seemed unhappy with their purchase. Lacey wondered bitterly if those reviewers had a share in _Graco_ stock because that was the only way she could explain no one warning that the crib, as shiny and sleek as it was, would eat the lives of all those who bought it. After spending the better part of her morning wrestling with the thing and arguing with Danny about _how_ to read the directions but with little more to show for it than organized piles of wood and metal, Lacey was ready to call it quits.

It hadn't been nearly as difficult when she and Danny had put together other furniture pieces together, Lacey mused to herself. They had assembled the changing table without incident. The baby swing had required a snap and a click and then it was done. The bassinet had come with simple fold out instructions. The activity center was virtually put together straight out of the box and the mobile had taken less than five minutes to unfold and construct. The crib, on the other hand, felt laborious in comparison to all of that. Lacey likened it to building a house with two unskilled laymen. They had all of the pieces but hell if they knew where any of them went.

"You can't quit," Danny said, as if discerning Lacey's unspoken thoughts, "If we don't finish this, where's our kid going to sleep? All the books say that co-sleeping is a no no."

Lacey massaged her throbbing temples. "Stop reading my baby books," she muttered testily, "It's beginning to weird me out."

"I'm trying to give our baby the best start in life."

She pinned him with a deadpan look. "I think the baby will be okay."

"But all the books say-,"

"Danny, if you finish that sentence, I can't be held responsible!" Lacey exploded before he could finish the quote, "This bed is from Hell. If I stay in this room one more second, I'm going to crack up!"

"You already had a break," he reminded her in a mild tone.

"That was a break for _both_ of us," she argued with a meaningful glance towards his crotch, "And I don't remember you being this militant about finishing up when I was climbing up onto your di-,"

"Okay, okay, point taken, oh surly one," he interrupted smoothly, his lips twitching with repressed laughter, "Maybe I _did_ get a little distracted then but that's how I know we can't afford to have anymore now. You're already halfway through your pregnancy and we still have a ton of stuff to do before we're ready." Ignoring her sputtering protests, he continued, "Don't get yourself worked up. You can ride my dick some more later."

Lacey sputtered anew, caught somewhere between laughing and pitching her shoe at him. "Sometimes I could cheerfully strangle you," she informed him with a saccharine smile.

He bobbed his eyebrows at her. "Ooh, kinky. We'll pencil that in for later. But for _now_ , since whoever rang the doorbell is obviously long gone...sit back down and get to work. You work on side A and I'll focus on side B."

With a sullen pout, Lacey started to resume her abandoned spot on the floor when the doorbell sounded yet again. She dashed for the door, flashing Danny a triumphant smile as she made her exit. "Sorry, babe. Gotta go!" As she went to answer the door she could hear his grumpy retort follow her, "Deserter!" Lacey was still laughing when she pulled open the front door and found three unexpected and very anxious visitors standing on her front stoop. She stumbled back a step, her smile collapsing into a startled frown.

"M-Mom? M-Mr. and Mrs. Kincaid?" she stammered in disbelief, "What are you guys doing here...and why are you _together_?"

"We'd like to come in and talk to you," Judy Porter requested in a surprisingly meek tone, "If that's okay."

Lacey wasn't too certain if it was okay with her or not but she was too stunned by their collective presence and too curious over why they would be together at all to do anything more than dumbly step aside and allow them to file into the apartment. Her mind was buzzing with a million difficult thoughts all at once, the most prominent being to alert Danny of their unexpected guests. But she couldn't seem to make her tongue work in order to issue the call. It felt as if it was stuck to the roof of her mouth.

A little panicked, Lacey took her time closing the door behind her, hoping that would afford her with a few seconds to collect her thoughts. Unfortunately, when she turned to face them again, she found herself still at a loss for words. She blinked at them mutely. Thankfully, however, Miriam Kincaid had no such difficulty forming sentences. She seemed eager and willing to fill the suffocating silence.

"Thank you for letting us in." When Lacey struggled with a response to that she added, after turning an appraising eye around at their simple but neatly arranged surroundings, "So this is your new apartment. It doesn't look that much bigger than Danny's last place. Hardly adequate space for a growing family."

That comment, which Lacey took as a subtle dig at her and Danny's ability to provide for their child, restored her power of speech. "It's bigger!" she blurted out defensively, "It has an extra bedroom so there's plenty of room for the baby!"

While she inwardly acknowledged how robotic and idiotic she sounded, Lacey was unable to temper the nervous anxiety and confused resentment raging through her body right then. After all, it had been weeks since she or Danny had seen or spoken to their respective families. Judy, in particular, had made it abundantly clear that she disagreed with Lacey's decision to go through with her pregnancy and marry Danny. She had even gone so far as to cut off all communication with Lacey when she realized Lacey meant to follow through with her plans with or without Judy's approval. So to have her mother show up now, and with no advance warning whatsoever, understandably left Lacey foundering both verbally and emotionally.

"Danny and I can provide for ourselves and our baby," she continued in a stiff tone when silence followed her initial outburst, "if that's what you're worried about, Mrs. Kincaid. We have what we need."

"My comment wasn't intended as disparagement, my dear," Mimi murmured soothingly, "I was merely making an observation. That's all."

Tension leaked from Lacey's body in the form of a serrated sigh. "Oh."

"It's clear that you and Danny have done well for yourselves," Mimi acknowledged, "And with no help from us at all."

"Not that you were expecting it," Lacey added before she could stop herself.

Yet another charged silence swelled within the living. It was during that tension filled moment that the baby within Lacey decided to assert its presence. Lacey found herself reflexively smoothing her hands over her distended abdomen in the hopes of soothing the jostling fetus into stillness. Feeling her baby move inside of her was a new development to which Lacey still had not acclimated herself. Over the past week, she had become more and more aware of the child growing inside of her. Tiny, tickling flutters, which she had easily dismissed in the beginning, had become distinctive thumps that sometimes caused Lacey to jump with their suddenness.

The baby was especially active whenever she or Danny spoke aloud, lending to their belief that their child could now recognize their voices. Fascinated by the theory, Danny sometimes spent inordinate amounts of time talking to her belly before they went to sleep at night, thrilling in each responsive kick he garnered. Consequently, Lacey wasn't completely surprised that the baby was being so active presently but she still couldn't help but curse the lousy timing. This was hardly the time for distraction. She didn't even realize she had murmured aloud a soft admonishment to that effect to the baby until her mother gasped aloud.

"Oh my goodness..."

Her mother's softly expressed utterance instantly commanded Lacey's attention anew. She studied Judy with a wary expression, finding that her mother's shimmering gaze was trained directly on her or rather _on her abdomen_. Lacey cradled her belly in response. "What?"

"Are...are you... Can...can you feel the baby moving right now?"

Lacey didn't miss the way her mother's voice seemed to tremble with the question. Her words were laden with a mixture of awe, excitement and yes, even longing. Far from the indifference Judy had shown when she first learned of the pregnancy, it was now clear to Lacey that her mother wanted to reach out and feel the baby kick beneath her own hands. However, Judy didn't dare make the attempt to do so without Lacey's invitation. Her eyes silently begged for it.

Despite her obvious yearning, though, Lacey made no effort to give her permission. She was still too wary about the sudden and unexplained change in her mother. She was determined not to read too much into Judy's tone and facial expression, at least not until she had a clearer picture of why she and the Kincaids had shown up today.

"I'm already well into my second trimester, Mom," Lacey reminded her mother in a deceptively neutral manner, "It will be twenty-one weeks tomorrow."

"When I last saw you, you were barely showing..." Judy murmured in obvious awe.

"Yeah, well...a lot of things have changed since then."

"You and Danny have gotten married for one thing," Cam Kincaid surmised gruffly, speaking for the first time since he, his wife and Judy Porter arrived, "Congratulations."

Although she wanted to challenge him on whether he really meant that or not, Lacey instead replied demurely, "Thank you."

"That's actually the reason why we all came to see you today," he went on to explain, "Is Danny here with you?"

Before Lacey could open her mouth to respond, Danny answered from across the room, "I'm here." Four pairs of apprehensive eyes darted around to discover him standing at the living room threshold, just beyond the hallway that led off to the two bedrooms. His expression was inscrutable but Lacey could easily discern the angry fire leaping behind his eyes as he regarded his grandparents and mother-in-law. He stepped further inside the living room, arms crossed defensively.

"What are you doing here?"

"We came to talk to you...to see you," his grandmother burst out, "But mostly we came here to apologize and make amends for our behavior. We've been very foolish."

Lacey bounced an incredulous look towards Miriam Kincaid and then her mother. "You want to apologize to us?"

Mimi bobbed a quick nod that was mimicked by both her husband and Judy Porter before she went on to explain. "When you and Danny first told us about the baby and that you were planning to get married, Cam and I thought that you were rushing headlong into disaster."

"We thought you were too young to make such a weighty decision," her husband followed up softly.

"We _still_ think you're too young," Judy then interjected, " _but_ , the Kincaids and I have been talking a lot in the past few weeks, and we realized that what you two needed wasn't our rejection but our support."

"You got married," Mimi reasoned, "You didn't commit a crime. You didn't harm anyone. You're trying to raise a family. The least we can do as _your family_ , as the people who love you, is to help you find success and that's the reason we're here."

While Lacey flailed for an appropriate response to Mimi's heartfelt words, Danny had little trouble saying what was on his mind and he did so tersely and without apology. "Who says we need your help? Lacey and I are making a success of our marriage all on our own."

Cam swallowed back an incredulous snort. "You've been married a week, Danny. Right now you and Lacey are in the honeymoon stage. It's going to get harder," he warned, "You're going to need help."

Danny didn't waver. "We can handle it. We don't need you. You can go now."

His brusque tone of voice jolted his grandparents and mother-in-law into speechlessness but left his wife sputtering in dismay over his rudeness. "Danny, stop it!" she admonished him sharply, "Didn't you hear what they said? They came here to apologize to us, not to start a fight!"

"So what? Weeks of radio silence and _now_ they want to make amends _after_ the fact, _after_ we've moved in here and _after_ we've gotten married?" he snorted, "It's too little, too late for me! So fuck them and their belated remorse!"

"Danny!"

Lacey's sharpened tone didn't cow him in the least. In fact, it made him even more obstinate. Danny stood with his feet apart and shoved his hands deep into his pockets in a stance that was nothing less than defiant. "I didn't invite them here," he bit out, inclining a frosty nod towards their guests, "If they're offended, there's the door. They can leave."

"I don't want them to leave!" Lacey snapped, "I want to hear what they have to say! Don't you?"

He shrugged, the casual response belying the anger and bitterness that darkened his handsome features following Lacey's outburst. "Actually, I couldn't care less about what they have to say," he told her tersely, "You do what you want. I have more important things to do." With one last scathing glance directed at his grandparents and Judy, Danny abruptly turned on his heel and disappeared back the way he came. The bone rattling slam of the spare bedroom door reverberated loudly through the apartment a split second later, causing Lacey to jump in reaction.

"He's pissed," Lacey murmured aloud to no one in particular.

"We probably should have called first," Judy Porter concluded in the resounding silence that followed Danny's infuriated exit.

"Yeah, you should have," Lacey agreed tightly, "He's rightly upset and so am I, Mom! How could you treat me this way? This is my first baby! I have no idea what I'm doing! Do you have any idea how many times I've wanted to call you the past few weeks, how much I've needed you?"

"I know. I know that, sweetheart." Judy tried to reach out to cup Lacey's cheek, hoping to soften the stinging pain her rejection had caused but she wasn't surprised when Lacey shrugged away her touch. She dropped her hand with a keening sound of regret. "Do you imagine that this has been easy for me, Lacey?" she posited softly, "I have wanted to call you too, every single day since you left."

"So why didn't you?" Lacey demanded tightly.

"For a lot of reasons. Fear. Pride. Anger. I was so disappointed, Lacey!" Judy said, "You told me you were pregnant and that you were getting married and all I could think about was how you were sacrificing your entire future. I thought you were compromising your dreams and I was afraid for you."

"So then why wouldn't you help me instead of abandoning me?" Lacey cried.

"I honestly thought that if I withdrew my support it would shock some sense into you!" Lacey threw up her hands in scoffing exasperation. "I'm not saying it was a solid plan," Judy flared defensively, "but I was desperate to get through to you! You and I have _never_ been at odds before! I was used to this kind of behavior from Clara but not from you."

"I'm sorry I disappointed you by not being the good, obedient daughter I've always been," Lacey muttered bitterly.

"That's not what I'm saying," Judy whispered, "I'm saying that you shocked me. I was caught off guard by that and I reacted badly."

"You think?"

"Parenting isn't an exact science, Lacey. No one gives you a handbook. You're not always going to make the right choices." She inclined a pointed nod towards her daughter's middle. "You're about to discover that yourself."

Lacey raised her chin haughtily, denial sparking fiercely in her eyes. "I know that I'm never going to turn my back on my child."

"I haven't turned my back on you. I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Only because the damage has already been done! So now, because Danny and I are married, you've decided to wave the white flag, is that it?" Lacey accused her sarcastically, "Or did you and the Kincaids get together hoping that you could convince me and Danny to get a divorce? Is that why you're here?"

"I'm here because I miss my daughter," Judy replied with utmost sincerity, "and I would like very much to see my grandchild grow up."

"So would we," Mimi added softly, "We missed so much with Danny when he was growing up. We don't want to miss anything with this baby."

Their replies, so genuine and fervent, did much to deflate Lacey's lingering anger although she remained wary of their motives. "If you really mean that about missing so much in Danny's life, why didn't you come to the wedding? He wanted you there. That's why he's so angry that you're here now. It broke his heart when you didn't show up."

Mimi winced at the disclosure. "Is that what he told you?"

"He didn't have to."

"Our absence had very little to do with sending a message of disapproval, if that's what you're thinking," Cam Kincaid explained in an even tone, "We would have been here in a heartbeat if we thought for one moment he would have welcomed us."

"But you're here now and it's obvious he isn't welcoming you," Lacey argued, "So what's the difference?"

"The difference is that today _isn't_ your wedding day, Lacey," Mimi explained gently, "We didn't want to take the chance of ruining anything if Danny's reaction to us was less than...um...welcoming."

"So you're saying that you were expecting him to be pissed off when he saw you, huh?" Lacey surmised in dawned understanding, "That's why you came today."

"That's why we came today," Cam confirmed. He blew out a heavy sigh laced with irony. "Mimi and I knew we had to tread carefully. He _is_ his mother's son after all."

Strangely, while their explanation of their behavior hardly erased the pain and rejection Lacey had felt in the past few weeks, it certainly helped to explain why the silent standoff she and Danny had with their families had gone on as long as it had. They were all victims of miscommunication. Their families had been waiting for them to give a sign and they had been waiting for their families to do the same. In the meantime, no progress was being made because neither party had been willing to reach out...until now. That fact did not escape Lacey's awareness. And because her mother and the Kincaids had been brave enough to take the first step, Lacey imagined that she could be equally brave in taking the second.

"So where do we go from here?" she asked her mother softly.

"I'd like you to forgive me," Judy whispered, "if that is at all possible. I miss you, baby girl."

In that moment, Lacey knew she didn't want to punish her mother any further. Her resentment cooled. Perhaps it was her own impending parenthood but Lacey could imagine the situation from Judy's perspective. She could feel her mother's horror and fear when she announced her plans to get married and have a baby all before she turned twenty years old. She was no longer analyzing Judy's actions through the eyes of a child but through a _parent's_ eyes as well.

Furthermore, it was clear that Judy remained uncertain of Lacey's choices but that hadn't prevented her from humbling herself and coming to Lacey in spite of her misgivings. She had little trouble admitting that she needed Lacey in her life again. But the bottom line for Lacey's wasn't that her mother needed _her_. It was that _she_ needed her mother.

"Sometimes I'm going to make choices you don't like, Mom," Lacey warned her.

"I know that."

"And I know that's a new thing for you because you and I have always been on the same page about everything but I need to know that you're not going to cut me off when that happens!"

"I won't cut you off, Lacey."

"Because this is the biggest thing I've ever done in my life...being married and having this baby," Lacey said, her voice breaking as she continued, "and I don't think I can do it without you."

The instant Judy sensed her acquiesce, she didn't hesitate pulling Lacey into her arms for a tight, reassuring hug. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm sorry," she murmured fervently, "I'm so, so sorry for the pain I've caused you. I never meant to make you feel abandoned."

Lacey buried her face in her mother's shoulder as her tears welled. In a matter a moments, she felt reduced from a woman to a little girl in her mother's protective embrace. "I've been so scared, Mommy," she sobbed brokenly, "I don't know what I'm doing and I need you."

Judy leaned back to whisk away the fallen tears from Lacey's cheeks. "We'll figure it out, Lacey," she promised softly, "You can do this. I'll help you to do this. Do you believe me?" After Lacey bobbed a grateful nod, Judy pressed a relieved kiss to the center of her forehead. "I promise from this point forward I will be with you through every step of this pregnancy and beyond," she vowed, "Whatever you need."

"That goes for us as well," Mimi murmured in agreement, "Just let Cam and I know what we can do."

"Right now there's nothing you can do," Lacey replied as she scooted out of her mother's hold to compose herself, "Danny and I have already purchased most of what we need. We were actually working on the nursery when you got here."

"Babies need a lot more than you think," Judy said, "Do you have a car seat already? A high chair? An infant carrier? A diaper bag or any diapers to go in it?"

"Okay, okay," Lacey chuckled shortly, "We might have missed a few things."

"Mimi and I will be happy to fill in the gaps," Cam volunteered without hesitation, "Just make a list of the items you still need and we'll get them for you."

"That's really not necessary, Mr. Kincaid."

"Nonsense. It _is_ necessary because you're family and so is that baby you're carrying. So you'll call me Cam from now on. No more of this Mr. Kincaid business."

"Yes, sir. I...I mean yes, C-Cam..." she stammered in discomfiture, "Thank you."

"What about an OBGYN?" Judy pressed Lacey once that matter was settled, "Are you getting proper care? Have you being going to the doctor regularly?"

"Yes, Mom. Of course."

"Are you taking your prenatal vitamins?" Judy fretted. She inspected Lacey's willowy frame. "You seem so thin, Lacey. If you're not eating the right kinds of foods then you're not getting the nutrients you need and neither is the baby."

"Mom, I'm eating! God! I've lost weight because I still have some nausea and vomiting from time to time. That's all."

Far from reassuring Judy, Lacey's reply seemed to ramp up her mother's anxiety to new heights. "You're still suffering from morning sickness? Is that normal? Have you spoken to your OB? That could be dangerous if you're not able to keep food down, Lacey!"

"Mom, get a grip!" Lacey huffed in exasperation, "The baby's fine. _I'm_ fine. I have another appointment in four days. They're going to check the baby's measurements and make sure it's growing appropriately and then Danny and I are going to find out the sex."

"I'd like to be there with you," Judy offered in a half request, half plea.

Lacey shifted uneasily, not because she wasn't amenable to the idea but because she was uncertain of how Danny would react to it. If the occasional clanging and banging they heard from the bedroom was any indication, it was probably a good assumption that he wouldn't be too thrilled about it. The thought aggravated Lacey a little. Part of her wanted to agree out of turn because it was _her_ mother and _her_ body and _her_ baby after all. However, another, more prudent part of her, was reminded that she was a wife now and part of being a wife meant considering her husband's feelings in her decision making. She told her mother as much.

"Let me talk to him first and then I'll let you know," she told Judy.

"Fine," Judy replied, "In the meantime, I'll buy you more Saltines and gingerale than you'll know what to do with."

"Thank you, Mom."

"And you'll need your car back too," Judy went on definitively, "I brought it with me. It's outside in the parking lot waiting for you."

Lacey was already shaking her head in refusal before Judy had even finished speaking. "Mom, I don't want the car. I'm fine with taking the bus."

"The bus?" Judy balked, "You can't take public transportation! All those fumes can't be good for the baby, not to mention how uncomfortable those seats must be for your back! No. You'll take the car."

"I don't need you to baby me. I'm a grown woman and I can get around on my own."

"If this is about what I said to you that day, you can take over the car note then," Judy conceded with an eye roll, "I'm not going to think less of you if you decide to take the car, Lacey! The baby needs to come before your pride!"

"They're a new couple with a baby on the way," Cam argued, "They don't need the added expense of a car note. We can pay for the vehicle outright that way they don't have to worry about it at all." He nodded towards Mimi in a silent request for her to produce their checkbook from her purse. "How much should I make the check out for?"

"Wait a minute!" Lacey protested loudly before any business deals could go down. She cut her hands in the universal sign for a timeout. "I really appreciate you guys being so enthusiastic about helping us but it's too much. First, you don't have anything to do with us for weeks and now you're going _way_ overboard! Do you think we could meet in the middle somewhere?"

After an unspoken glance of acknowledgment bounced between the three of them, Judy turned back to face her daughter with a demure and accommodating sigh. "What do you need us to do, honey?"

"I'll take the car," Lacey told her mother, "because I actually hate riding the bus and I don't want Danny having to get up at the crack of dawn to take me to school. Danny and I will gladly take over the note." She then addressed Danny's grandparents, her tone kind but also firm. "I'm not adverse to you and Mimi buying us gifts," she said to Cam, "The more, the better as far as I'm concerned. But you can't buy us a car. You can't buy us a house. And you can't pay our bills. Danny and I are married and we're adults and we can take care of ourselves."

"Then what _can_ we do for you?" Mimi asked, rephrasing Judy's earlier question.

"Just be here for us," Lacey replied softly, "Today was a good start."

"What about Danny?"

"Don't worry about Danny," Lacey reassured her, "I'll bring him around. You just be ready for him when that happens because he's going to need you."

After all the bigger issues had been put to rest and numerous hugs had been dispensed, heartfelt apologies had been uttered and permission had been granted for closer inspection of Lacey's alluring baby bump, Lacey reluctantly prepared to bid her guests goodbye. She was sure to get the Kincaids contact information before they left because she was sure Danny would want it later. Once that was done, Lacey watched from the door as they all climbed into the Kincaids' rental car and drove away.

It was only after they had gone and the apartment was quiet again that Lacey turned her attention to dealing with Danny. She knew he had to be seething. She also knew delaying a confrontation with him would only worsen matters. Mentally preparing herself for the argument that was about to ensue, Lacey squared her shoulders and crept back towards the spare bedroom.

She flung open the door and found him kneeling on the floor in much the same position she had left him in except now he was glaring at the crib instruction leaflet. In the time he had been closeted away in the bedroom, he had managed to set up the framework for the crib and bureau but not much else. And, if the disgruntled scowl on his face provided any insight, it was clear that he wasn't too thrilled about his lack of progress either, among other things.

Lacey leaned into the doorjamb and regarded him with a solemn smile. "Need some help?" she offered by way of olive branch.

He didn't even look at her when he bit back in a clipped tone, "No. I got it."

Disappointed that her suspicions were confirmed but not dissuaded from her mission, Lacey closed the distance between them in tentative inches. "You look frustrated. How about you take a break for a little while and we talk a bit?"

"I've had enough breaks. I'm fine."

The harsh manner in which he had snapped the reply, however, belied his claim. "You don't seem fine," she pressed gently, "You seem like you're upset. We should talk about it if you're upset."

"I'm not upset! I'm busy. _One of us_ needs to focus on finishing this crib since _you_ were obviously occupied with other things."

"God, Danny, have you always been this passive aggressive or is this a new development for you?" Lacey huffed in a flash of impatience, "If you're mad at me then just say so!"

He speared her with a fiery glare then and the fury leaping in the depths of his whiskey colored eyes almost made Lacey regret goading him. "Fine!" he clipped, "You're right! I _am_ mad at you! I thought we were supposed to be a team, Lacey! I'm your husband! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"What are you talking about?" she cried, "I _was_ on your side!"

"No, you weren't, otherwise you would have made them leave like I wanted!"

She dropped her fists onto her hips and speared him with a narrowed glare. "Oh, so I'm only on your side if I do what you want? Is that it?"

"That's not what I said!"

"Then what the hell are you saying?"

"Think about what they did to us!" he ranted furiously, "They've been against us from the beginning! Not one of them supported the idea of us getting married so why would you want to listen to a word they had to say? Why the hell would you let them into our house, Lacey, let alone take their side over mine?"

"Stop saying that! I didn't take their side!"

"That's not how it looked to me!"

"What else did you expect me to do? Yell at them and then throw them out on their asses? She's my _mother_ for goodness sake!" she cried, "And they're _your_ grandparents! They love us and they made a mistake! They are trying to make it up to us, Danny, and, besides that, we need them!" His response to that was a scathingly dubious snort. Lacey bristled, suppressing the sudden urge she had to throttle him. "We _do_ need them," she insisted tartly, "We're about to become parents! We don't know what the hell we're doing! We can benefit from their experience and we need all the help we can get!"

"I think we can do a little better than a couple who alienated their only daughter and drove her into the arms of a lunatic and a woman whose marriage fell apart after sixteen years because she ignored her husband's preference for dick!" he retorted, the words tumbling from his mouth before he had a chance to filter them. He knew it had been the wrong thing to say even before Lacey's features darkened with an irate scowl. "God, Lacey, I'm sorry. That was...that was so wrong. I shouldn't have said that."

"You're damned right you shouldn't have!" she flared indignantly, "You need to shut the hell up about things you know _nothing_ about! The divorce was _not_ on my mom! She was a great wife to my dad and an even better mother to me! She's been through hell in the last two years but she always made sure I had everything I needed! She's not perfect but she's mine and you, of all people, don't get to sit here and pass judgment on her! I'm not going to stand here and take it while you badmouth her, Danny! You got that?"

Danny flicked his eyes dismissively, carefully masking the hurt her outburst caused him because it suddenly felt like he and Lacey were standing on opposite sides. He knew it wasn't a contest but Lacey's implicit admission that if it came down to a choice between him and her mother, her mother would likely take it stung a little bit. It caused his greatest insecurity to resurfaced once more with a vengeance, his fear that, no matter what they shared, he would never come first with Lacey. Shaking with the realization and feeling a little shattered in the aftermath, Danny returned his attention to the unassembled crib, his expression remote.

"Whatever. Do what you want, Lacey. You want to let your mom back into your life? Do it! You want to buy into my grandparents apologetic routine? Be my guest!"

"God! Would you stop acting like this?"

"Acting like what?"

"Like you're all superior and world weary and you know more about life than I do!" she snapped, "Like you think I'm being clueless and stupid because I want to forgive them and move past all of this! I just want my family back!"

He looked at her again but this time his expression was softened by regret. "I'm not saying that you're clueless or stupid, Lacey," he muttered wearily, "That's not what I meant. And I wasn't trying to put down your mom earlier either. I just wanted you to see that we can make it without them. They don't know everything. We can figure it out on our own."

"But why should we make it hard on ourselves when they want to help us?" Lacey argued plaintively.

Danny gave a brusque shake of his head. "It's not a good idea to make yourself vulnerable to them again. You'll only be disappointed if you don't keep your guard up."

"Do you hear yourself right now? You're talking like you think they're out to destroy us or something! This is my mother and your grandparents we're talking about here! They're not the enemy. They're our _family_."

"You're wrong. _My family_ is right here in this room with me," he said, "You, me and the baby. That's it, Lace. That's all I need."

She fell back a step, regarding him with a dismayed frown. "You're doing it again, Danny. You're putting up a wall around your heart because you're scared."

"Hey, _I_ didn't want it this way! _They_ did! _They_ turned their backs on _us_!" he flared, "Why should I leave myself open just because they decided to come around now?"

"So you're just going to cut off anyone who hurts or disappoints you?" Lacey challenged, "Is that your plan for life?"

He glowered blindly at crumpled pages of the instruction leaflet. "You don't get it," he muttered, "I grew up in a household where affection and commendation were always conditional. I had to jump through hoops every day just to get my dad to _see_ me. I'm not doing that ever again. Not for anyone, Lacey. Not even you."

Suddenly devoid of fury and filled with mournful sympathy for him instead, Lacey went to kneel before him and gently cupped his face in her hands, coaxing him silently to meet her eyes. "No one's asking you to do that, Danny. Your grandparents don't want you to change so they can love you," she argued softly, "They're changing so _you_ can love _them_. Stop holding them at arm's length. Not everyone is your father...or Tara."

"It's too hard. I don't know how to do it," he moaned with a mixture of frustration, self-loathing and grief, "I don't know how to open up to them. You're right. I _am_ scared. I don't want to need them because if I do and they walk away, I don't think I'll get over it."

"You can't live your life that way. You know that."

"I don't really know them and they don't know me. What if it's a mistake to trust them?"

"Do you think trusting _me_ was a mistake?" she countered pointedly.

"That's different. I love you."

"You love them too," Lacey determined, "whether you say the words or not. And you need them, otherwise these past few weeks wouldn't have hurt like they did. So go to them right now and make it right, Danny. Don't drive them away."

Although he couldn't refute the veracity of her words Danny wasn't ready to respond to them. He licked at the mutinous tears that collected in the corner of his mouth, both disgusted and surprised to discover he was crying. In an attempt to bottle his suddenly riotous emotions, he tried to shrug Lacey away and turn his back on her but she wouldn't be budged. She held him fast as he started to break down. "Stop! Let me go! I can't do it..." he mewled brokenly, "Just leave it alone. Please..."

"No," she whispered fiercely, "I'm not going to stand by and watch you destroy something good in your life because you're too afraid to trust it. They love you, Danny. They came all this way to tell you that. Now it's your turn. _You_ have to go to them. _You_ have to tell them."

Danny shook his head. "They're probably on their way back to Connecticut by now," he mumbled, his tone and demeanor already steeped in defeat, "It's too late."

"Actually, you're wrong," Lacey countered with a small smile, "They're not on their way back to Connecticut. And I know exactly where you can find them."

Lacey refused to accompany him. She didn't want to take the chance that he might use her as a buffer rather than saying the things to his grandparents that he needed to say. She wasn't completely wrong in her suspicion either. The idea of facing his grandparents again, after all he had said and done, and making himself completely vulnerable to them filled him with unending dread. Without Lacey as his go between he would have no choice but to lay his soul bare because it would only be him and his grandparents. No distractions. No excuses.

As he stood outside of their hotel suite, he forced himself to remain rooted in place even as a dozen different excuses to flee tumbled through his mind. Though it seemed like such a small thing to knock on a door, Danny felt as if he were about to swim churning, class 4 rapids without a life vest. He was pretty sure by the end of it that he would be emotionally dashed on the rocks. That was hardly a welcome prospect but he knocked anyway before he could lose his nerve entirely.

His grandfather answered the door and greeted Danny with an unexpectedly serene expression. Danny immediately dropped his eyes. "I know you weren't expecting me..." he began lamely.

Yet again, Cam took him knocked him off balance by replying, "Actually, I was. Why don't you come inside so we can talk?"

Danny nodded and accepted the invitation with bated breath, his eyes combing the interior of the suite for his grandmother. Cam answered the unvoiced question in his eyes. "She's in the shower," he said, "You're stuck with me for the time being."

"I...I wasn't trying to give you the impression that I have a problem with that or anything," Danny stammered in quick response.

"Relax, Danny. It's okay," Cam soothed, "I know you have an easier time talking to your grandmother and that's understandable because you bonded with her first. But I do hope that you and I can develop that kind of relationship some day as well."

"Why would you even want to?" Danny asked before he could stop himself, "After the way I've been treating you, why wouldn't you be eager to wash your hands of me?"

"Because you're only twenty years old and, despite what you might believe, you don't know everything. If you didn't act like an ass from time to time, Mimi and I would be worried about you."

He was hoping to disarm Danny with a bit of humor. Unfortunately, his levity fell flat and his grandson remained just as rigid and as somber as ever. He didn't even crack a glimmer of a smile. Danny's next statement made the reason for his severity clear. He wasn't ready to be left off the hook.

"My behavior towards you has been excusable and I know better. I shouldn't have been so rude to you earlier," he acknowledged in a stiff tone, "I'm sorry. You stopped by to apologize to me today and I threw that back in your face. You didn't that."

"Thank you and your apology is accepted," Cam replied, "But I would also like to extend one of my own. Your grandmother and I should have called today instead of dropping in on you and Lacey unannounced."

"That was definitely an option. Why didn't you?"

"In our defense, we didn't want to give you a chance to deny our request to see you," Cam told him, "I know that you're still angry with us for not supporting your marriage to Lacey and later for missing the wedding as well."

"You're wrong about Lacey and me. She's not Vikram and I am not my mother. For you to compare our decision to get married to the disastrous mistake my mom made by marrying my dad was beyond insulting."

"That was not our intention," Cam replied, "We didn't want you to make such a weighty decision without thinking it through. That's all."

"I _did_ think it through."

"For how long?" Cam challenged, "For an entire day or was it merely hours or even minutes after you found out that Lacey was pregnant? This all happened so quickly, Danny. Are you really surprised that it caught Mimi and me off guard?"

"I've been off and on with Lacey for a long time," Danny argued gruffly, "I know her better than I know myself. She is _everything_ to me and I have waited longer than you could possibly imagine to make her my wife."

"And would you have married her if there hadn't been a baby?"

"Absolutely. Yes!" Danny maintained stubbornly, "That was always the plan. We had been making our way back to each other for months. We would have gotten back together again. It just might have taken a little longer."

"That's exactly my point," his grandfather emphasized, "You weren't ready. She wasn't ready. You both rushed headlong into this whole thing because you were blinded by your love for each other."

"Is this your way of leading up to an argument about how Lacey and I should call it quits?" Danny demanded in rising anger, "Because if that's where you're going, I don't want to hear it!" He palmed his forehead in weary frustration. "I didn't come all this way just to fight with you."

"I don't want to fight with you either."

"Then what is this all about?"

"You have your work cut out for you, my boy," Cam warned, "Marriage is not an easy arrangement to navigate. I've been married to your grandmother forty years and I'm still learning."

"Lacey and I are fine. We've managed well enough so far."

"While I admire your conviction and confidence, you're only six days in, grandson. Let's see how you feel when you've been married for six years or _sixteen_ for that matter."

"It won't change anything. I'm always going to love Lacey," Danny vowed.

"It's not only about love," Cam said, "It's about trust and commitment, sacrifice and a willingness to stick together through the good times and the bad ones. You haven't even scratched the surface of the ugly times you and Lacey will endure together."

"We've already been through plenty of ugly," Danny retorted, keeping in mind not only what he and Lacey had experienced in their present day relationship but their past as well, "We've weathered dozens of storms together and we came through all of it. We're still together, still going strong. _Nothing_ and _no one_ is going to break us."

"Spoken like an idealistic newlywed."

"If you're waiting for me to agree with you that marriage is crap, I can't do that. I love being married."

"So do I. But my relationship with your grandmother was a hard-won fight and we've earned every year of happiness we've had since," Cam said, "Right now, it's just you and Lacey and it's easy to stay focused on each other because there aren't any distractions. But soon you'll be welcoming a new baby and once that happens, life as you know it now will change drastically."

"I already know that...and I'm ready."

"Well, just in case you aren't, Mimi and I would like to help you."

"Help me how?" Danny asked warily.

"We want you to move back home with us," Cam said, "You, Lacey and the baby. Let us help take care of the three of you so that you and Lacey can focus on school and graduating."

"Oh no, not this again," Danny groaned under his breath.

"Yes, this again. Until you realize it's a solid plain, I'll keep telling you about it until I'm blue in the face."

"You're persistent. I'll give you that."

"It's my greatest character asset," Cam preened, impervious to criticism underscoring Danny's words, "I passed it on to your mother and I would like to think that she passed it on to you."

"She did. But not in a way you're going to like," Danny countered.

"You're telling me no?" his grandfather concluded with a defeated sigh.

"I'm telling you no."

"Why?"

"Because this is _my_ family and _I_ want to be the one who takes care of them," Danny declared quietly, "I'm not saying this because I'm angry with you and I'm not saying this because I don't want you in my life. I want to know you guys and I want you to know me but...I want to do this on my own terms, in my own way. I'd like you to support me, whether you agree with the decisions I make or not. But, if you can't, I understand that too."

"Did you expect us not to support you?"

Danny shrugged. "I can't take anything for granted."

"Your grandmother and I would be glad to support you, Danny, but that doesn't mean we won't call you on it when we think you're making a mistake."

"That's fair enough."

"In the meantime, though, could you try and let me and grandmother in a little?" Cam pressed on tentatively, "You keep pushing us away or closing yourself off from us and we don't know how to get past the walls you build up. You have to allow us to love you, Danny. Let us be your family."

"I'm not used to that," he admitted in a stilted tone, "Family is still a foreign concept to me but I want to learn how to trust that and how to trust you. But, even if I never completely get it, I want to my kid to have you in its life. I want better for him or her than I had."

He had barely finished making the mumbled concession when the bathroom door abruptly swung open and his grandmother, clad in her pajamas, a white, terrycloth robe and bare feet, came spilling through the door with a joyful cry and with arms thrown open wide. She drew a stunned Danny into his arms and began peppering his face with kisses. "That's all we wanted, sweetheart," she crooned, her eyes brimming with happy tears, "That's all we've wanted from you all along."

"Really? Were you listening in the entire time?" Danny asked, part exasperated, part incredulous, "You're not even trying to hide it now, are you?"

Mimi lifted her shoulders in an unapologetic shrug. "You and your grandfather were having such an intense discussion. It would have been rude for me to interrupt."

"Your grandmother is very conscious of social etiquette," her husband teased dryly.

She barely acknowledged his gentle ribbing, however, because she was already directing her attention back to Danny. "Did you really mean what you said about giving us a chance?" she asked, "About you wanting the baby to know us?"

"Yes," Danny confirmed in a trembling whisper, "I do want the baby to know you. And _I_ want to know you too."

It was another hour before Danny was able to extract himself from his grandparents, who were determined to make up for the near month of silence between them, and make the journey back home. He had been okay with it, however, because he wasn't nearly finished offering them apologies. It was well after midnight by the time he made it back to the apartment. He wasn't surprised when he stepped inside the apartment and found all the interior lights off and everything quiet. He figured that Lacey would likely be in bed already and when he stepped inside their bedroom and found her sleeping, he wasn't disappointed.

A slight smile flirted at the corner of his mouth as he noted the way the moonlight filtering in from the blinds cast an ethereal glow across the bare skin of Lacey's back. Although he had been hoping to catch her awake, at that moment, Danny could think of nothing more inviting than climbing beneath the covers and cuddling with his very warm and very naked new wife. He didn't delay in stripping off his own clothing to do just that.

Her eyes fluttered open the instant she felt the bed sag beneath his weight and his lips touch her shoulder. Lacey shifted around in bed to greet him with a sleepy smile which he rewarded by nuzzling one exposed nipple. She hummed her approval as he nipped his way across her skin.

"How did it go?"

"Good." His words were slightly muffled as he kissed his way up to her throat and then snuggled close. "My grandparents and I talked everything out. I understand their perspective a little better now and I think they understand mine."

She twirled her fingers idly in the loosened strands of his hair. "I'm glad. I knew you could work it out."

"Yeah...yeah, you were right all along," he griped with a good-natured smile, "I was a fool not to listen to you."

Lacey dimpled at him. "I'm always right. You'll be a lot happier when you accept that as irrefutable fact."

Danny buried his answering laugh into her cheek and gave her a tight squeeze before abruptly sobering. "I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you before," he murmured contritely, "I was mad at myself and mad at them but I took it out on you. I never should have brought your mom into it at all."

"You're right," she agreed, "You shouldn't have. But I guess I could have been a little less defensive about it. I was kinda harsh when I went off on you so, I'm sorry too." She tipped back her head to favor him with an impish smile. "You still love me?"

He brushed her lips with a lingering kiss and whispered with complete sincerity, "Deeply and utterly. Do you still love me?"

Her dimples flashing anew, Lacey's answer was shining plainly in the depths of her eyes as she slowly nudged him back into the bed and deftly climbed atop of him. "Deeply and utterly," she replied in a somber whisper, leaning down into him for another kiss, "Allow me to demonstrate just how much..."


End file.
